Expository Essay Sample on Human Trafficking: What Is the Situation Today?

For thousands of years, people have been buying and selling human beings. From the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the ancient Babylonians, Grecian, and Roman empires, slavery has been practiced in most nations of the world. In the 16th to the late 18th century, slavery was an accepted part of the economic life of western nations. In the New World, the plantation owners in Virginia and other states used slaves brought from Africa to work on their fields. William Wilberforce moved for its abolition in England and the empire in 1833.

The truth is that even though slavery is not a legal practice anymore, it is still an unofficial part of our life. What is the situation with human trafficking today, and what are the causes of its existence?

Let’s start with the form that human trafficking takes today. According to the definition of the UN on human trafficking, the issue mainly falls into three groups. Humans are trafficked for use as forced labor, sexual exploitation, with the harvesting of organs being another smaller group. It involves recruiting, kidnapping, transfer, and sale of such persons. Exploitation also includes sexual exploitation, forced labor, or removal of organs. How extensive is it? According to the US state department representative Laura J. Lederer, human trafficking is the third largest criminal activity worldwide. The pioneer in the work aimed at the prevention of human trafficking states that it is only exceeded by illegal drug and arms trafficking. It has become a criminal industry worth $32 billion a year.

When it comes to the people that stand behind the issues with human trafficking, it is important to mention that these people are criminals. However, because of the nature of the industry, most do not fit the stereotypes. At the top are the criminal bosses. Nevertheless, down the line, it might be a person who gives a young girl accommodation or drives her to a certain place. What they have in common is that they make money from doing these things that are essential to get the victim to the point of sale. Then the direct criminals come. They are the ones who knowingly buy and exploit the victims.

As for the victims, anyone can become one. Much of it starts with fraud or in civil war situations. For example, a girl in Thailand is recruited as an au pair in South Africa. Once she gets to the place of her new work, someone takes her passport and locks her in a house. After a while, the girl is forced to work in a brothel by either threat or violence.

In civil war areas like the Baltic region of Europe, young women are being kidnapped and forced to sex work. These sex workers are put in brothels, on the streets, in the houses of rich men, or women’s mansions. Regardless of the place, these women are kept as sex slaves. Their owners exploit them sexually and keep any money earned from prostitution.

Others receive attractive offers to work abroad and get some good money. They gladly accept the offers because their financial situation leaves a lot to be desired. But the reality is that when they arrive, they turn into slaves. Most people are scared due to the fact that they do not know the language. They are being locked up and used to do labor, such as farming, sewing, and house cleaning. They get no payment. They just work hard, while their owners tend to keep the money that they earn. The only thing they have in common is that they usually are vulnerable members of society. As a rule, they are runaways brought up in abusive homes. They often have no job, which means they suffer from unemployment. However, while many people tend to believe that human trafficking is directly related to poverty, the reality is that many other factors are included as well. For instance, things like political instability, lack of education, war, zero protection of human rights also add to the overall situation.

Without a doubt, human trafficking is a global problem. However, some countries tend to have higher human trafficking rates. Despite the fact that every country on earth is involved in the issue to some extent, countries like Iran, Eritrea, and Equatorial Guinea have been classified as Tier 3, according to the global human trafficking classification provided by the United States of America. The US measures the issue as Tier 1, Tier 2, or Tier 3. The latter indicates the areas that do next to nothing in order to handle the problem. As for the United States, regions like California, Florida, New York, and Texas have the highest rates when it comes to human trafficking.

What is being done to stop it? It is worth mentioning that the United Nations opened a bureau dedicated to combating this problem. Most responsible governments are recognizing the problem and incorporating it into criminal law. However, the problem is complex and huge, which means it can’t be battled with a single step only. The International Labor Organization suggests that 20.9 million victims are forced laborers, while the other statistics estimate millions are involved in sexual exploitation.

So, what is the major problem faced? First of all, it is important to mention that lack of awareness is a major stumbling block. If a woman working on the streets approaches a police officer saying she was forced into drug addiction and prostitution, she is more likely to be arrested rather than rescued.

What is clear from everything mentioned above is that slavery is one of the fastest-growing problems in the world. Even though more and more people become more aware of the issue, the trafficking industry has become stronger and more organized.

Writing tips on exploratory essays about human trafficking:

1. When you work on an exploratory essay, the paper usually asks questions to gather and share information on the topic. It is not necessarily used in order to find answers.
2. Introductions for exploratory essays are broad due to the reason that you are making an inquiry into a topic, not proving a thesis.
3. The next step includes presenting the topic and the questions that you are going to ask.
4. State your research question. Your task here is to clearly state what you want to discover and why.
5. Identify the issue, its causes, and other factors. Identify decision-makers and other interested parties.
6. You do not have to provide any solutions since the main purpose of the paper is to identify the problem.
7. Do not forget to have a second pair of eyes look at your project due to the fact that the topics are pretty controversial. For that reason, you should better ask someone to check grammar, punctuation, style, and the overall content of your paper.

In general, writing an exploratory essay about human trafficking is not a tough assignment. However, it surely requires you to make an effort. The number one task here is to do in-depth research, as well as boost your knowledge in the chosen field of study. What is more, the process of writing can be actually