anti human trafficking essay

5 Essays On Human Trafficking You Can Access Freely Online

Every country faces specific human rights issues, but human trafficking is a problem for every place on the planet. Wherever there’s poverty, conflict, a lack of education, or political instability, vulnerable people are at risk. Human trafficking is the world’s fastest-growing criminal industry. Sexual exploitation brings in most of the billions of dollars of profit, but forced labor also generates wealth. The universality of human trafficking doesn’t negate the fact that the issue is multi-faceted and as a multitude of root causes . Certain countries are more dangerous than others and certain people groups are more vulnerable. To learn more about specific human trafficking issues and solutions, here are five essays you can read or download for free:

“Human Trafficking and Exploitation: A Global Health Concern”

By: Cathy Zimmerman and Ligia Kiss

While labor migration can be beneficial to workers and employers, it’s also a hotbed for exploitation. In this essay from PLOS, the authors argue that human trafficking and the exploitation of low-wage workers have significant negative health impacts. Because of the magnitude of human trafficking, health concerns constitute a public health problem. Thanks to certain business models that depend on disposable labor, exploitation is allowed to flourish while protections are weakened. The essay states that trafficking initiatives must focus on stopping exploitation within each stage of labor migration. This essay introduces a special collection from PLOS on human trafficking and health. It’s the first medical journal collection on this topic. It includes pieces on child sex trafficking in the United States and the slavery of sea workers in South East Asia. Cathy Zimmerman and Ligia Kiss, the guest editors and authors of the first essay, are from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“Introducing The Slave Next Door”

By: Jen Birks and Alison Gardner

Published in a special issue of the Anti-Trafficking Review on public perceptions and responses to human trafficking, this essay focuses on Great Britain. According to the essay, there’s been a shift in what the public thinks about trafficking based on local reporting and anti-slavery campaigns. British communities are starting to realize how prevalent human trafficking is in their own backyards. The essay takes a closer look at the media and campaigns, how they’re representing cases, and what people are doing with the information. While specific to Britain, it’s a good example of how people can perceive trafficking within their borders.

Jen Birks is an Assistant Professor in media at the Department of Cultural, Media, and visual Studies at the University of Nottingham. Alison Gardner is at the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham with a Nottingham Research Fellowship. She is part of the university’s Rights Lab.

“My Family’s Slave”

By: Alex Tizon

One of The Atlantic’s biggest stories of 2017, this essay tells a personal story of modern slavery. At 18-years old, Lola was given to the writer’s mother and when they moved to the United States, Lola came with them. On the outside, Tizon’s family was, in his words, “a poster family.” The truth was much darker. The essay sparked countless reader responses, including those of people who were once slaves themselves. Reading both the criticism and praise of the essay is just as valuable as the essay itself.

Alex Tizon died at age 57 years old before his essay was published. He had a successful career as a writer and reporter, sharing a Pulitzer Prize while a staff member at The Seattle Times. He also published a 2014 memoir Big Little Man: In Search of My Asian Self.

“Vietnam’s Human Trafficking Problem Is Too Big To Ignore”

By: Thoi Nguyen

In November 2019, 39 Vietnamese people were found dead in a truck container. They were identified as victims of a human trafficking ring. In Nguyen’s article, he explores the facts about the severity of human trafficking in Vietnam. For years, anti-slavery groups have warned the UK about a rise in trafficking, but it took a tragedy for people to start paying attention. Nguyen discusses who is vulnerable to trafficking, how trafficking functions, and Vietnam’s response.

Freelance journalist Thoi Nguyen is a member of Chatham House and a member of Amnesty International UK. In addition to human trafficking, he writes about the economy, finance, and foreign affairs. He’s a specialist in South East Asian geopolitics.

“History Repeats Itself: Some New Faces Behind Sex Trafficking Are More Familiar Than You Think”

By: Mary Graw Leary

This essay highlights how human trafficking isn’t only a criminal enterprise, it’s also an economic one. Leary looks specifically at how businesses that benefit (directly or indirectly) from slavery have always fought against efforts to end it. The essay focuses on government efforts to disrupt online sex trafficking and how companies are working to prevent that from happening. Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry, so it makes sense that even legitimate businesses benefit. Knowing what these businesses are is essential to ending trafficking.

Mary Graw Leary is a former federal prosecutor and currently a professor of law at The Catholic University of America. The Chair of the United States Sentencing Commission’s Victim Advocacy Group, she’s an expert in exploitation, missing persons, human trafficking, and technology.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

129 Human Trafficking Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

📝 key points to use to write an outstanding human trafficking essay, 🏆 best human trafficking topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ simple & easy human trafficking essay titles, 📌 most interesting human trafficking topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about human trafficking.

• ❓ Research Questions about Human Trafficking

Human trafficking is one of the most challenging and acute assignment topics. Students should strive to convey a strong message in their human trafficking essays.

They should discuss the existing problems in today’s world and the ways to solve them. It means that essays on human trafficking require significant dedication and research. But do not worry, we are here to help you write an outstanding essay.

Find the issue you want to discuss in your paper. There are many titles to choose from, as you can analyze the problem from various perspectives. The examples of human trafficking essay topics include:

• The problem of child trafficking in today’s world
• The causes of human trafficking
• Human trafficking: The problem of ethics and values
• The role of today’s society in fostering human trafficking
• Human trafficking as a barrier to human development
• The rate of human trafficking victims in the world’s countries
• How to prevent and stop human trafficking

Remember that you can select other human trafficking essay titles if you want. Search for them online or ask your professor for advice.

Now that you are ready to start working on your paper, you can use these key points for writing an outstanding essay:

• Study the issue you have selected and do preliminary research. Look for news articles, scholarly papers, and information from reputable websites. Do not rely on Wikipedia or related sources.
• Work on the outline for your paper. A well-developed outline is a key feature of an outstanding essay. Include an introductory and a concluding paragraph along with at least three body paragraphs. Make sure that each of your arguments is presented in a separate paragraph or section.
• Check out human trafficking essay examples online to see how they are organized. This step can also help you to evaluate the relevance of the topic you have selected. Only use online sources for reference and do not copy the information you will find.
• Your introductory paragraph should start with a human trafficking essay hook. The hooking sentence or a phrase should grab the reader’s attention. An interesting fact or a question can be a good hook. Hint: make sure that the hooking sentence does not make your paper look overly informal.
• Do not forget to include a thesis statement at the end of your introductory section. Your paper should support your thesis.
• Define human trafficking and make sure to answer related questions. Is it common in today’s world? What are the human trafficking rates? Help the reader to understand the problem clearly.
• Discuss the causes and consequences of human trafficking. Think of possible questions you reader would ask and try to answer all of them.
• Be specific. Provide examples and support your arguments with evidence. Include in-text citations if you refer to information from outside sources. Remember to use an appropriate citation style and consult your professor about it.
• Discuss the legal implications of human trafficking in different countries or states. What are the penalties for offenders?
• Address the ethical implications of the problem as well. How does human trafficking affect individuals and their families?
• A concluding paragraph should be a summary of your arguments and main ideas of the paper. Discuss the findings of your research as well.

Check out our samples (they are free!) and get the best ideas for your paper!

• Human Trafficking: Process, Causes and Effects To make the matters worse they are abused and the money goes to the pockets of these greedy people as they are left empty handed after all the humiliation they go through.
• Trafficking of Children and Women: A Global Perspective The scale of women and children trafficking is very large but difficult to put a figure on the actual number of women and children trafficked all over the world. The demand for people to work […]
• Human Trafficking in the United States The paper also discusses the needs of the victims of human trafficking and the challenges faced in the attempt to offer the appropriate services.
• Human Trafficking in Africa Therefore, Africa’s human trafficking can be primarily attributed to the perennial political instability and civil unrest as the root causes of the vice in the continent. Some traditions and cultural practices in Africa have significantly […]
• Human Trafficking: Slavery Issues These are the words to describe the experiences of victims of human trafficking. One of the best places to intercept human trafficking into the US is at the border.
• The Widespread Awareness of Human Trafficking A possible solution to the issue of human trafficking might be the implementation of a mapping system that will include the locations with human trafficking activity.
• Reflection on Human Trafficking Studies When researching and critically evaluating the global issue of human trafficking, I managed to enrich my experience as a researcher, a professional, and an individual due to the facts and insights gained through this activity.
• Human Trafficking Through the General Education Lens First and foremost, the numerous initiatives show that the regional governments are prepared to respond to the problem of human trafficking in a coordinated manner.
• Discussion: Human Trafficking of Adults Human trafficking of adults is one of the most essential and significant issues of modern times, which affects the lives of millions of people in almost every corner of the globe.
• Human Trafficking and Related Issues and Tensions In the business sector, therefore, discrimination leads to the workload of the trafficked employee to make a huge lot of work to be done at the right time required.
• Doctor-Patient Confidentiality and Human Trafficking At the same time, it is obligatory to keep the records of all the patients in the healthcare settings while Dr. To conclude, the decision in the case of an encounter with human trafficking should […]
• Three Ethical Lenses on Human Trafficking As a result of the issue’s illegality, a deontologist will always observe the law and, as a result, will avoid or work to eradicate human trafficking.
• Human Trafficking: Sex Trafficking in Latin America In Latin America, the problem is crucial, as many gangs and criminal organizations use human trafficking as one of the sources of funding their illegal activities. It is also crucial to focus on women and […]
• Policy Issues on Human Trafficking in Texas The challenge of preventing human trafficking in Texas and meeting the needs of its victims is complicated by the multifaceted nature of the problem.
• Dark Window on Human Trafficking: Rhetorical Analysis In this essay, Ceaser utilized his rhetorical skills to dive into the dark world of human trafficking, which severely hits Latin America and the USA, through the usage of images and forms of different societal […]
• Human Trafficking: Giving a Fresh Perspective One question I find reoccurring is, “Are all victims of human trafficking being dishonest?” Throughout my career and law enforcement, I met the cases in which victims were dishonest, and I wanted to discover why.
• Human Trafficking and Variety of Its Forms The types of human trafficking that harshly break human rights are sex trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage. To conclude, it is essential to say that human trafficking has been the worst type of crime […]
• Child Welfare and Human Trafficking Young people and children that live in “out-of-home care” due to reasons of abuse or lack of resources are at higher risk of becoming subjects of trafficking.
• Human Trafficking and Healthcare Organizations Human Trafficking, which is a modern form of slavery, is a critical issue nowadays since it affects many marginalized people around the world.
• Human Trafficking Is a Global Affair It refers to the unlawful recruitment, harboring and transportation of men, women and children for forced labor, sex exploitation, forced marriages, through coercion and fraud.
• Human Trafficking and Nurses’ Education Therefore, there is a need to educate nurses in understanding human trafficking victims’ problems and learning the signs or ared flags’ of human trafficking.
• Intelligence Issues in Human Trafficking To begin with, the officer is to examine the social groups of migrants and refugees, as they are the most vulnerable groups in terms of human trafficking.
• Intelligence Issues in Border Security, Human Trafficking, and Narcotics Trafficking This paper aims to emphasize drug trafficking as the main threat for the nation and outline intelligence collecting methods on drug and human trafficking, border security, and cybersecurity.
• Human Trafficking in the UK: Examples and References The bureaucracy and lack of flexibility pose quite significant threats to the success of the UK anti-trafficking strategies. An illustration of this lack of flexibility and focus is the case of the Subatkis brothers.
• Criminology: Human Trafficking However, the UAE clearly has admitted that there is a high level of rights infringement against women by the ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
• Human Trafficking: Labor Facilitators and Programs Labor trafficking is a significant issue in the modern world because it refers to people who are forced to engage in labor through the use of coercion, fraud, and force.
• Human Trafficking: Solution to Treat Survivors And A Public Health Issues Ultimately, this led to the child’s lack of a sense of security, to the presence of a strong desire to be loved and important to someone.
• Human Trafficking and Its Social and Historical Significance Human trafficking is a type of crime that involves kidnapping and transporting of women, men, and children out of the country with the purposes of slave labor, prostitution, organ harvesting, and other nefarious purposes.
• Human Trafficking as a Global Crime Industry: Labor, Slavery, Sexual Slavery, Prostitution, and Organ Harvesting As members of the society, every individual has to be aware of this glaring issue, and do their part in preventing human trafficking. This project will present an in-depth analysis of various aspects and perspectives […]
• Egypt and Sudan Refugees and Asylum Seekers Face Brutal Treatment and Human Trafficking In this report by Amnesty International, the issue of the security of refugees and asylum seekers in Shagarab refugee camps, which are located in the eastern parts of Sudan, is raised.
• Stephanie Doe: Misyar Marriage as Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia In this article, the author seeks to highlight how the practice of temporary marriages by the wealthy in Saudi Arabia, commonly known as misyar, is a form of human trafficking.
• Effects of Human Trafficking in Teenagers: The Present-Day Situation In this case, the inclusion of the additional factor, the type of human trafficking, will contribute to a better understanding of the problem and develop a solution.
• Aftermath of Human Trafficking in Children and Teenagers The major part of the available research is concentrated on the victims of sex abuse and the applied means of their treatment.
• Human Trafficking of Illegal Immigrants People perceive II not as a vulnerable demographic but as a part of the problem, thus causing the target population to develop the behaviors that complicate the process of preventing and addressing the instances of […]
• Human Trafficking in the USA However, the development of the society and rise of humanism resulted in the reconsideration of the attitude towards this phenomenon and the complete prohibition of all forms of human trafficking.
• Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Modern Society It is necessary to determine the essence of human trafficking to understand the magnitude of the problem of slavery in the modern world.
• Child Welfare: Human Trafficking in San Diego The paper consists of an introduction, the consecutive sections addressing the definition of the issue, its legal background, the occurrence of child trafficking, and the interventions initiated by the authorities to fight the threat.
• Human Trafficking as an Issue of Global Importance Being a threat to global safety and well-being, the phenomenon of human trafficking has to be managed by reconsidering the existing policy statements of organizations responsible for monitoring the levels of human trafficking and preventing […]
• Psychotherapy for Victims of Human Trafficking The use of different dependent variables is the primary feature that differs a single-subject design from a program evaluation the essence of which is to cover a range of questions and evaluate them all without […]
• Human Trafficking: Enforcing Laws Worldwide This essay focuses on the issue of enforcement of laws concerning human trafficking, the influence of country prosperity on the approaches to solving this problem, the vulnerable categories at high risk of becoming victims, and […]
• Social Work: Human Trafficking and Trauma Theory One of the theoretical frameworks is trauma theory that focuses on the traumatic experiences victims are exposed to as well as the influence of these traumas on their further life.
• Human Trafficking Problems in Canada The authors describe the government’s influence on the level of human trafficking and argue that the concept of slavery is almost the same as modern human trafficking.
• Terrorism, Human Trafficking, and International Response One of the key positive results of the global counter-terrorism efforts was the reduction of Al Qaeda’s presence both globally and in the Middle East, and the enhancement of travel safety.
• Human Trafficking in Mozambique: Causes and Policies “Human Trafficking in Mozambique: Root Causes and Recommendations” is a policy paper developed by the research team of UNESCO as a powerful tool in order to analyze the situation with human trafficking in Mozambique and […]
• Human Trafficking as a Terrorist Activity The biggest problem that is worth mentioning is that it is believed that the number of such activities is growing at an incredibly fast rate, and it is important to take necessary measures to limit […]
• Human Trafficking: Healthcare and Globalization Aspects The first study conducts a literature review on articles in the year 2011 and 2012 based on the handing of human trafficking by healthcare professionals.
• Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery One of the biggest challenges in addressing modern slavery and human trafficking is the fact that the vice is treated as a black market affair where facts about the perpetrators and the victims are difficult […]
• Combating Human Trafficking in the USA It is necessary to note, however, that numerous researchers claim that the number of human trafficking victims is quite difficult to estimate due to the lack of effective methodology.
• The Fight Against Human Trafficking Human trafficking constitutes a gross violation of the human rights of the individual as he/she is reduced to the status of a commodity to be used in any manner by the person who buys it.
• Criminal Law: Human Trafficking Promises of a good life and the absence of education opportunities for women have led to the increased levels of human trafficking.
• Human Trafficking: Definition, Reasons and Ways to Solve the Problem That is why, it becomes obvious that slavery, which is taken as the remnant of the past, prosper in the modern world and a great number of people suffer from it.
• Human Trafficking and the Trauma It Leaves Behind According to Snajdr, in the United States, most of the Black immigrants who came to the country during the colonial era were actually victims of human trafficking.
• Mexican Drug Cartels and Human Trafficking Reports from Mexico says that due to the pressure exerted on the drug cartels by the government, they have resolved in other means of getting revenue and the major one has been human trafficking alongside […]
• Human Trafficking in Eastern Europe The fall of communism in Eastern Europe has led to a long-term issue of human trafficking in some of the nations in the region.
• Human Trafficking between Africa and Europe: Security Issues This situation is usually made possible by the fact that the traffickers are usually criminal groups that have a potential to do harm to the victims and to the family of the victims.
• Tackling the Issue of Human Trafficking In Europe, prevention of human trafficking is interpreted to mean both awareness raising and active prevention activities that ideally look into the primary causes of human trafficking.
• Human trafficking in Mozambique The reason for this goes back to the fact the government in place has failed to put the interests of its people as a priority.
• “Not For Sale: End Human Trafficking and Slavery”: Campaign Critique To that extent, Not for Sale campaign attempts to enhance the ability of the people in vulnerable countries to understand the nature and form of trafficking and slavery.
• The Human Trafficking Problem Another way is through employment and this involves the need to create more jobs within the community that is at a higher risk of facing human trafficking.
• Human Trafficking in the United States: A Modern Day Slavery The question of the reasons of human trafficking is a complex one to answer since there are various causes for it, but the majors causes include; Poverty and Inequality: It is evident that human trafficking […]
• Definition of Human Rights and Trafficking One of the infamous abuses of human rights is the practice of human trafficking, which has become prevalent in the current society.
• How Prostitution Leads to Human Trafficking This is a form of a business transaction that comes in the name of commercial sex either in the form of prostitution or pornography.
• Criminal Enforcement and Human Trafficking
• Combating Human Trafficking Should Go Towards the Recovery of The Victim
• Connections Between Human Trafficking and Environmental Destruction
• The Problems of Human Trafficking and Whether Prostitution Should Be Legal
• The Issue of Human Trafficking, a Criminal Business in the Modern Era
• The Problem of Human Trafficking in America
• Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking
• Assignment on Human Trafficking and Prostitution
• The Plague of Human Trafficking in Modern Society
• Critical Thinking About International Adoptions: Saving Orphans or Human Trafficking
• The Issue of Human Trafficking and the Backlash of Saving People
• The Role of Corruption in Cambodia’s Human Trafficking
• A Theoretical Perspective on Human Trafficking and Migration-Debt Contracts
• Conditions That Allow Human Trafficking
• Understanding Human Trafficking Using Victim-Level Data
• Evaluation of the International Organization for Migration and Its Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking
• Causes and Consequences of Human Trafficking in Haiti
• Fishing in Thailand: The Issue of Overfishing, Human Trafficking and Forced Labor
• Differences Between Definitions of Human Trafficking
• Banks and Human Trafficking: Rethinking Human Rights Due Diligence
• The World Are Victims of Human Trafficking
• Understandings and Approaches to Human Trafficking in The Middle East
• The Issue of Human Trafficking, Child Prostitution and Child Soldiers
• Human Trafficking and the Trade in Sexual Slavery or Forced
• The Protection of Human Trafficking Victims by the Enforcement Bodies in Malaysia
• The Remnants of Human Trafficking Still Exists Today
• The Issue of Human Trafficking and Its Connection to Armed Conflict, Target Regions, and Sexual Exploitation
• Causes Effects of Human Trafficking
• The Issue of Human Trafficking and Forced Child Prostitution Around the World
• Assessing the Extent of Human Trafficking: Inherent Difficulties and Gradual Progress
• The Unknown About Human Trafficking
• Trafficking: Human Trafficking and Main Age
• The Issue of Human Trafficking in Thailand and South Africa
• The Tragedy of Human Trafficking
• Vertex Connectivity of Fuzzy Graphs with Applications to Human Trafficking
• Child Pornography and Its Effects on Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking Essay Topics, Outline, & Example [2024]

“People for sale” is a phrase that describes exactly what human trafficking is. It also makes for an attention-grabbing title for an essay on this subject. You are going to talk about a severe problem, so it’s crucial to hook the reader from the get-go.

A human trafficking essay is an assignment where you discuss causes, effects, or potential solutions to the problem of modern slavery. A well-written essay can help raise awareness of this complicated issue.

In this article by our custom writing experts, you will find:

• 220 human trafficking essay topics;
• a writing guide;
• an essay sample;
• helpful info on human trafficking.
• 🔝 Top 10 Topics
• ❓ What Is Human Trafficking?
• ✍️ Topics for Any Essay Type
• 📝 Essay Outline
• 📑 Essay Sample
• ✏️ Frequent Questions

🔝 Top 10 Human Trafficking Essay Topics

• History of slavery.
• Slavery in literature.
• Human trafficking awareness.
• Modern slavery: legislation.
• Cultural background of traffickers.
• Globalization and human trafficking.
• Human trafficking vs. human rights.
• Modern slavery and kidnapping.
• Human trafficking rates by country.
• Human trafficking effects on the economy.

❓ What Is Human Trafficking?

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime determines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, harboring, or receipt of persons for the purpose of sexual slavery, exploitation, forced labor, organs removal, etc.

According to the recent reports of the Council of Europe,  human trafficking rates have reached epidemic proportions . Millions of people are being trafficked for different reasons, primarily for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Women and children are the primary victims of human trafficking , which makes the problem especially acute.

One of the most worrying factors that directly impact the increase in trafficking rates is the growing number of refugees and migrants. It’s the largest seen since WWII, and it has intensified during the last years.

Types of Human Trafficking

Before you start writing your essay, it’s essential to review the forms of human trafficking. Knowing them will help you see the bigger picture. Here are the most common ones.

Additionally, victims of human smuggling and child trafficking are often involved in various kinds of labor. While sexual exploitation is one of the major reasons for trafficking, it’s not the only one. These are also serious problems that you can focus on in your essay.

According to Polaris Project, there are 25 types of modern slavery . Among them are:

• Manufacturing in sweatshops;
• Agricultural work;
• Food and cleaning services;
• Beauty and massage salons.

Note that each of these practices has unique traits. It means there are specific methods of recruitment and control associated with them. Make sure to take all essential features of human trafficking into account when writing your essay.

The History of Human Trafficking

If we go back in time, we can see that human trafficking has a long history. Here are some of its milestones:

As you now know, human trafficking is inextricably linked to other crimes against human rights. And the eradication of this phenomenon depends on both governments and ordinary citizens.

What Is Being Done to Stop Human Trafficking

In recent decades, a lot has been done to curb slavery. The United Nations General Assembly has established the World Day against Trafficking in Persons on July 30 . It was done to raise awareness of the situation and promote and protect victims’ rights.

One of the essential frameworks used to combat human trafficking is the 3P: prosecution, protection, and prevention .

Sometimes “ partnership ” is added as the fourth P. Since human trafficking became a pandemic, it requires a combined effort of people working together to overcome this problem. You can learn more about the 3P paradigm from this article by the US Department of State .

You may ask, “What can I do?” Here are some ways in which anyone can help fight human trafficking:

• In each country, there is a hotline where you can report on a known case of human trafficking or an attempt at recruiting.
• Be attentive to various kinds of controversial proposals and promises of a better life.
• Try to avoid bad company.

These recommendations may seem simple, but they can help you stay away from danger, spread awareness, and even save lives.

Before you start writing a human trafficking essay, you need to find a compelling topic. Check out the following list of topics and prompts and choose a subject that interests you.

✍️ Human Trafficking Topics for Any Essay Type

Human Trafficking Argumentative Essay Topics

• We should let survivors inform the public about the dangers of trafficking.
• State laws should protect the rights of trafficking survivors.
• Victim behavior is not the reason for the actions of criminals.
• Present medical facts about the ability of humans to survive a trauma.
• What psychological techniques do criminals use to lure victims?
• School is a safe haven for children from disadvantaged families.
• High social status is not a guarantee of protection against traffickers.
• Deception as a tool for controlling victims of modern slavery.
• Family can provide significant support to a victim of human trafficking.
• Physical violence and threats are the chief tools for controlling traffickers.
• Health workers should follow safety rules when rescuing trafficking victims .
• Countries providing financial advantages for anonymous economic activities should be held accountable.
• Psychologists should comply with ethical standards when assisting victims of trafficking.
• Countries with high trafficking rates should develop maps showing hotspots.
• Victims of modern slavery are not to blame: justification from the criminal perspective.
• Whom should we hold responsible for what happens to the victims in captivity?
• Will economic support for vulnerable groups help reduce the level of human trafficking?
• Prolonged captivity reduces the chances of adaptation after release.
• Exercise and physical activity help victims of trafficking to overcome trauma .
• Medication alone is ineffective in combating PTSD among trafficking victims.

Human Trafficking Argumentative Essay Prompts & Tips

• Who is responsible for human trafficking—the government, police, or society? There is no sufficient progress in stopping human trafficking. This is mainly due to the absence of an unequivocal opinion about who is responsible for the situation. Give your own ideas in this essay.
• The need to inform the public about human trafficking. Demonstrate the necessity to convey this information to the masses. You can also suggest ways of doing it.
• Immediate assistance for the victims of modern slavery. Show why it is important to provide psychological aid to rescued victims. What is the role of nurses and community organizations in it?
• Psychological help to victims of human trafficking: group therapy. Group therapy is based on awareness and acceptance of trauma. These actions are the basis of PTSD treatment. Decide whether it’s the optimal solution for victims’ psychological rehabilitation.
• Countries with widespread human trafficking should develop appropriate laws. Legislation changes are a crucial element of an integrated approach. In this essay, provide a list of existing laws and possible new regulations.
• The devastating impact of modern slavery. Describe the disastrous consequences that victims of human trafficking face. Find stories describing their lives in various media. How did they become victims? What happened to them after release from captivity?
• Tightening police measures as a way to stop human trafficking. Women and children are especially vulnerable targets for traffickers. Demonstrate the need to enable the police to protect them better.
• The high rate of trafficking indicates a high crime rate in a country. Determine which countries have the highest human trafficking rates. What are the related crimes observed there? Is there a correlation?
• The use of technology to catch criminals and traffickers. In this essay, discuss technologies that can help officials stop traffickers. For instance, satellite imagery allows identifying places of victims’ detention.
• International financial law is one of the best ways to stop human trafficking. Would the right to disclose anonymous bank accounts help reduce such crimes? What new laws and agreements are required to allow this?

For an argumentative essay, you need to conduct extensive research and present evidence to support your claim (check out our argumentative essay guide to learn more.) Here are the main steps:

Human Trafficking Persuasive Essay Topics

• An anti-trafficking tax will help decrease the modern slavery rates.
• Is preventing new cases of slavery more critical than saving victims?
• Modern slavery is a serious problem that the CIA should address.
• Ignoring human trafficking is the same as neglecting Nazism.
• Forced labor is an economic problem as it is caused by poverty.
• Border control no longer solves the problem of forced labor.
• Should producers of weapons pay an anti-trafficking tax?
• Imprisonment for paying for escort services will stop human trafficking.
• Will stricter gun control laws help stop human trafficking?
• Victims of human trafficking should receive lifetime financial compensation.
• Human trafficking is a national problem that requires coordination of efforts.
• Treatment of human trafficking victims is a responsibility of society as well as psychologists.
• Two-year state-funded hospital treatment will help survivors to cope with the trauma.
• Are social networks a determining factor in the spread of human trafficking?
• Assess gender disparity in using the labor of human trafficking victims.
• Did the political polarization of society lead to an increase in people smuggling?
• Immigration laws are an effective means of combating modern slavery.
• Human traffickers’ family members capable of domestic violence should share responsibility with criminals.
• Civil and human rights protection laws do not sufficiently address human trafficking.
• People smuggling is not a crime from the criminals’ perspective: is this statement true?

Tips & Persuasive Essay Prompts Related to Human Trafficking

• The President must take personal responsibility. The problem of human trafficking is more acute than ever. It requires the immediate intervention of the President and Vice President. For example, they can declare the upcoming year the year of the fight against human trafficking.
• Criminals guilty of human trafficking should be kept in special prisons. The government should create special jails for rapists and human traffickers with a stricter regime. Moreover, we should prevent these criminals from becoming part of society again. Is this proposal fair?
• Trafficking should be punished with life imprisonment . Today, life imprisonment is mainly reserved for murder. Should human trafficking be penalized to the fullest extent?
• Can self-defense lessons help to avoid the risk of being captured by traffickers? Do you agree that schools should introduce a martial arts training system?
• State laws should permit surveillance in regions with high trafficking rates. Debate whether security is more important than the right to anonymity. Should the government allow the police to access people’s data ?
• Public organizations that help the survivors should take official responsibility. If non-governmental associations take it, they can receive financial support. It will help them cooperate more effectively with the police. Do you agree?
• The existence of human trafficking in a country: deontology, utilitarianism and egoism. The United States is officially a democracy. However, the human trafficking rates show that America is close to a feudal society. Criminal ties among the upper class also enforce it.
• Fines as a way to motivate social workers and patrol officers to fight human trafficking. Many activists and police officers work in areas with high human trafficking rates. Do you agree that governments should fine them? Would a system of moderate fines motivate them to be more responsible?
• People who cannot pay rent are easy targets for traffickers. The government should prevent homelessness to combat human trafficking. For instance, it can compensate for the rent of vulnerable demographics.
• Homelessness as the main reason for being captured by traffickers. Homelessness deprives a person of protection. States with the highest human trafficking rates should start building shelters for the homeless. The state should provide them with food, clothing, jobs, and education. This way, traffickers won’t capture them into slavery.

A persuasive essay aims to convince the reader to share your opinion. You can do it by citing facts and statistics (check out our persuasive essay guide for more info.) Here’s how to write it:

Human Trafficking Informative Essay Topics

• How do international organizations fight modern slavery?
• Human trafficking in developed African countries.
• Outline the demography of human trafficking in the US .
• How does society stigmatize trafficking survivors ?
• Fair trade as a way to combat modern slavery.
• Sex trafficking from a feminist perspective.
• The role of photography in the fight against forced labor.
• Fighting human trafficking on the dark web .
• Media coverage of human trafficking : ethical aspects.
• Review how anyone can help combat human trafficking .
• Association of human trafficking with social insecurity.
• How can medical institutions provide safety to victims of trafficking?
• Review the political and economic effects of human trafficking in the US.
• What lessons can the US learn from the trafficking situation in Eastern Europe?
• Forced labor and higher education in the US: programs for survivors.
• What US laws protect victims of slavery and define criminal activities?
• Review government statistics on forced labor in the US over the last five years.
• Which American states have the highest human trafficking rates?
• Modern slavery in the Arab world: from ancient times to modern days.
• Using technology to combat forced labor: the latest solutions.

Tips & Informative Writing Prompts for Human Trafficking Essays

• Measures that governments can take to reduce human trafficking. Review legal and informative measures to combat modern slavery. You can base this essay on reports from official government agencies.
• Human trafficking: types, symptoms , and effects. For this essay, present the kinds of trafficking according to the official categorization. It includes divisions according to age, gender, and type of forced labor. You can also describe the symptoms commonly found in victims.
• The history of human trafficking: from ancient times to the 21 st century. Start by describing ancient cultures that used forced labor. Alternatively, you may focus on the history of slavery in the US . Include the latest statistics on reported cases of human trafficking.
• Human trafficking and fundamental humanistic values. Outline humanistic values that are violated by forced labor. Back it up with arguments drawn from the works of famous humanists.
• What are the consequences of human trafficking for victims? Describe the trauma that people develop while in captivity. Use reports from national and global organizations. What physiological symptoms are associated with adaptation after release?
• How does the US deal with the problem of reporting on forced labor? Present ways of communicating the risks of human trafficking. Base this essay on government anti-trafficking reports. Include a list of trafficker indicators and other red flags.
• Environments that put a person in danger of becoming a victim of human trafficking. These include unemployment , homelessness, and the absence of immigration status. You can base this essay on data from governmental reports.
• Informing the population as means of reducing human trafficking rates. Does informing people actually reduce the number of potential victims? Review the best informing strategies used by community organizations.
• Why are migrants the most vulnerable population group in terms of human trafficking? In this essay, provide information on migrants’ life circumstances. Mention the aspects that make them the most vulnerable demographic. Examples include unemployment and insecurity before the law. You can also present the most common schemes by which traffickers capture migrants.
• New approaches to mitigating the effects of modern slavery in psychotherapy. Describe what methods therapists use to help slavery victims. You can present a list of optimal practices for restoring the integrity of survivors’ personalities. For this essay on human trafficking, use scientific articles and reports from practicing therapists.

An informative essay should educate the reader on something they didn’t know before. Have a look at this outline:

Topics for an Expository Essay on Human Trafficking

• Assess social adaptation methods for victims of sexual slavery.
• Social adaptation of men who worked for traffickers in captivity.
• Police memo: evidence sufficient to detain a trafficker.
• Describe how to identify a trafficker based on 7 criteria.
• Power of the image: photo reports on human trafficking.
• Anonymous story of a sexual slavery survivor.
• Present a psychological and demographic portrait of a trafficker.
• Describe the conditions of human traffickers’ detention.
• Dealing with trauma in children who have been in labor slavery.
• Human trafficking in the Southern and Northern states.
• How to restore citizenship and documents after release from captivity.
• How can human trafficking survivors get free medical care?
• Who is more effective in stopping human trafficking: government agencies or community organizations?
• Being in captivity during the war , in forced labor, or sexual slavery: psychological consequences.
• Gender differences in human trafficking victims’ labor.
• Modern slavery’s connection to the criminal underworld in the Northern states.
• Enumerate the reasons why homeless people can end up in captivity.
• How many years does adaptation take for human trafficking survivors?
• Explore the modern meaning of the word “slavery.”
• Discuss ways of psychological support for the families of slavery victims.

Modern Day Slavery Writing Prompts & Tips for Expository Essays

• Human trafficking and modern slavery: real stories told by the media. Review several articles about falling into slavery. You can focus on press coverage from the 2010s. The stories of survivors will speak for themselves.
• Non-governmental organizations of the USA assisting victims: the power of community . Present five influential organizations from California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Nevada. Assess the personal contributions of staff. What is the role of local communities?
• How to help a friend if they’ve become a victim of human trafficking. In this essay, list tactics and strategies for assisting forced labor victims. Pay particular attention to compliance with safety regulations.
• What is it like to be a forced labor victim? A more creative task is to describe the situation from the inside. Can victims try to escape and free themselves from slavery? What is the role of psychological pressure from traffickers? How can an ordinary person cope with such a monstrous challenge?
• Prostitution, forced labor, and organ trafficking: a comparison. In addition, describe what forms of modern slavery prevail in different countries.
• Therapy methods in human trafficking survivors. Review what therapy practices are the most suitable for working with the survivors.
• An overview of common human trafficking schemes. These often involve vulnerable demographics, including illegal immigrants and adolescents from underprivileged communities.
• In what conditions do human trafficking victims live? In this paper, explain how life in captivity affects one’s mental health . Determine the connections between trauma and the body’s response to it.
• Ways of integration of human trafficking survivors. Review the best strategies for their adaptation to everyday life. Give examples of social adaptation that include education and employment.
• Human trafficking in the Southern and Border States. Study the situation in Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, and Arizona. Then, describe how to solve the problem. Don’t forget to emphasize the role of social work with illegal migrants.

An expository essay includes a thesis statement, evidence, and a logical conclusion. You can also use elements of creative writing in your paper (feel free to read our expository essay guide for more info.) Here are the main steps:

Human Trafficking Research Paper Topics

• Survival in an unfamiliar city: is an escape from slavery possible?
• What prevents citizens from recognizing victims of human trafficking?
• Are monthly payments for human trafficking survivors justified?
• Dietary adaptation for malnourished forced labor survivors.
• How do the police investigate slavery markets?
• Economic levers to combat human trafficking: practical approaches.
• Describe global criminal connections that lead to modern slavery.
• Being in captivity leads to psychological trauma inherited by victims’ children.
• The use of figureheads on social media is a successful tactic against traffickers.
• Five app projects that will help avoid becoming a human trafficking victim.
• We should ban goods produced by forced labor worldwide.
• Human trafficking transportation problems as an opportunity to catch criminals.
• Research the use of symbolic language in informing victims of human trafficking.
• Funding for the installation of video surveillance systems to catch traffickers.
• People from what socio-economic background are the most vulnerable to child labour and exploitation?
• How can we combat human trafficking during a pandemic?
• Ethics of business and economic relations as a way to combat slavery.
• Informing vulnerable groups about human trafficking and attracting them to cooperation.
• Coordinated interaction of police departments is the key to success in combating people smuggling.

Human Trafficking Research Paper Prompts & Tips

• Deficiencies in US law determine success or failure in the fight against human trafficking. US legislation on human trafficking includes several rules. International acts and agreements also guide it. Nonetheless, the US laws, especially in the leading states, require urgent revision.
• Human trafficking as modern slavery: history repeating itself. Draw analogies between the trends and schemes from the past and the present. What historical practices can be effective in combating slavery? In particular, this concerns the anti-slavery movement and public awareness.
• Domestic human trafficking in the US shows increasing tendencies. Here, analyze the growth of domestic human trafficking cases. Demonstrate the need to create new approaches to catch criminals.
• Technology companies can stop human trafficking. The luring of victims often occurs on social media . Should social networking companies be penalized for failing to act against criminals?
• Can social media campaigns help protect potential victims? It’s necessary to create a program that will inform users about the dangers of trafficking. This method of targeted communication can be very effective.
• City officials should be ready to engage in the fight against modern slavery. Provide examples of American cities that are actively fighting human trafficking. What approaches and practices can be adopted throughout the US?
• Medical institutions are the main asset in combating human trafficking. More than three-quarters of victims receive medical care while in captivity. Health workers have the legal right to place a patient in a hospital and protect them from contact with criminals. This approach has been successful in many states.
• The police have insufficient funding to combat human trafficking. The police are conducting successful investigations, and there are many cases of solved human trafficking crimes. The state can grant more money to the police to uncover more trafficking schemes. It will allow using more advanced technologies in search of criminals.

• Hotlines should be more accessible to victims of trafficking. Hotlines are highly effective in combating human trafficking. They are easy to find on the Internet, but captive victims rarely have access to the network. How can we improve this situation?
• Families of trafficking victims and their participation in the search. Demonstrate the need to establish a format for families’ closer cooperation with the police. Would it help to conduct police investigations more effectively? Should we allow families to conduct their own investigations?
• The US is responsible for the success of international cooperation against human trafficking.

To write a research paper, you study the available information, analyze it, and make conclusions. Here’s a human trafficking research paper outline:

Causes of Human Trafficking Essay Topics

• Discuss psychological factors of human trafficking.
• What personal reasons make people become traffickers?
• Greed as a major reason for human trafficking.
• What are the major causes of sex trafficking?
• Substantial profit as one of the human trafficking root causes.
• Explore the reasons for forced marriages.
• How does social media promote people trafficking?
• Commercialized sex and its contribution to human trafficking.
• Does authoritarianism promote human trafficking?
• Compare the cases of human trafficking in the United States and Thailand.
• Explore the court cases of traffickers. Does the judicial system cope with its duties?
• Why are weak anti-trafficking policies the primary cause of people’s exploitation ?
• Discuss the role of government in human trafficking.
• Investigate the reforms on human trafficking. How effective are these measures?
• Lack of relevant laws leads to more trafficking cases. Do you agree?
• Should legal punishments apply to victims as well as traffickers?
• Why is ethnicity one of the main factors of people trafficking?
• Explore the connection between drug addiction and slavery.
• Violent force and threats as major leverages of traffickers.
• Naivety leads to becoming a victim of traffickers. Provide your arguments.

Causes of Human Trafficking Essay Prompts & Tips

• What are the leading causes of human trafficking? Your essay may start with the definition of people trafficking. Think about social and economic factors. Dig into history to find the reasons. Most importantly, look at this issue from various angles.
• Explore poverty as one of the reasons for human trafficking. How does poverty influence people? Can it force them to behave illegally? What are people ready to do for money?
• Migration: is it a cause or a consequence of human trafficking? Some people are so eager to immigrate to developed countries that they can do anything. They are even ready to sell their children to get money or sell themselves into slavery. At the same time, others become traffickers to move to another country.
• Discuss the connection between human trafficking and education. Think about the following: If a person lacks education, they lack knowledge about their rights. They can be deluded more easily. Following this logic, these individuals can become desired prey for traffickers.
• What is the role of war in human trafficking? Do armed conflicts provoke or prevent the spread of slavery? How do they facilitate the development of this problem? Is smuggling flourishing in countries that are at war? These are excellent questions to start with.
• What are the effects of cheap labor demand? Supply and demand are two pillars of economics. If there were no need for a cheap working force, traffickers wouldn’t exploit people so easily. They force their victims to work almost for free while selling the goods at a high price.
• Investigate institutional racism as a root cause of people trafficking. Who is the most vulnerable social class? Naturally, these are marginalized groups. They lack protection at a constitutional level. That’s why they can become victims of traffickers.
• Cultural and social causes of human trafficking. For some nations, selling children, slavery, smuggling, and bonded labor are commonplace. In some countries, such as Uzbekistan, people are forced to work in the cotton fields by the authorities. If you do research, you will see many similar examples worldwide.
• How do natural disasters facilitate human trafficking? The consequences of some natural disasters force people to migrate and find alternative ways to earn money. Some of them have no other option but to let themselves be exploited. 
• How does the absence of safe migration conditions assist people trafficking?  Many people from developing countries want to move to the United States to achieve their American Dream. Traffickers delude fortune seekers, promising well-paid jobs and help in crossing the border.

Discussing human trafficking in a cause-and-effect essay is an excellent way to investigate this issue in detail. You can learn how to write it from our article on cause-and-effect essays . Here’s a recap:

Solutions to Human Trafficking Essay Topics

• How can employers help stop human trafficking?
• Producing films about slavery : is it a problem solution?
• How can we stop human trafficking by learning the indicators?
• How can people protect themselves from traffickers when going abroad?
• Why should employers stop using cheap labor?
• Compare and contrast solutions to labor and sex trafficking.
• The role of parents and caregivers in preventing forced labor.
• How can civic awareness stop human trafficking?
• What is more important: to persecute traffickers or to protect victims?
• In what ways can attorneys help stop people smuggling ? 
• Can creating a reliable online platform for job searching help reduce slavery?
• Educational curriculum : should students be taught how to indicate and prevent human trafficking?
• Investigate the list of goods produced by child exploitation as a form of human trafficking. How does this information influence people’s choices?
• Forewarned is forearmed: discuss the effectiveness of anti-trafficking non-profit websites.
• How can stricter validity checks on job-searching websites solve the issue of modern slavery?
• Can the implementation of severe punishments for human trafficking help to curb the problem?
• Legalization of prostitution as a way of preventing sex trafficking.
• How can timely identification of human trafficking indicators save the lives of the victims?
• Fighting against poverty and unemployment as a means of preventing people smuggling.
• Watching documentaries about modern slavery as a problem solution.

Solutions to Human Trafficking Essay Prompts & Tips

• What are the primary solutions to human trafficking? Think about the following: How can this problem be solved on personal and national levels? It’s crucial to mention self-awareness , education, volunteering , and the role of charity organizations. You may also address the necessity to change the law.
• Human trafficking: an international approach. The issue of modern slavery is a global problem. That’s why it should be dealt with at the international level. The authorities all over the world should unite to fight against people trafficking.
• Compare and contrast the effectiveness of volunteering and adopting new policies. On the one hand, volunteers attract public attention to the issue of human trafficking. On the other hand, we should protect marginalized groups at the constitutional level. Otherwise, human trafficking will remain flourishing in the future.
• Coverage of human trafficking cases in social media. Is it a good idea for the victims to share their stories on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook ? How can it help prevent this issue? Could it lead to the stigmatization of these people by others? You can start by brainstorming these ideas.
• Discuss whether fundraising is an effective solution to human trafficking. Ponder on how holding a fundraiser helps bring awareness to the problem of modern slavery. What are some other benefits of fundraising, such as financial assistance?
• Donations help prevent human trafficking. Do you agree? Every person can donate some money, clothes, or even shelter for the victims of human trafficking. Business owners may ensure employment opportunities, giving these people a chance for a better future. Focus on the importance of psychological and legal assistance.
• How does the media help prevent human trafficking? The media attracts people’s attention to the problem. They become more aware and careful. The cases of victims are widely discussed, leading to more fundraising and volunteering .
• Explore the anti-trafficking legislation in the United States. Discuss its strengths and drawbacks. What could be changed or done better? Is it effective? How are the rights of marginalized groups protected? These ideas are only the tip of the iceberg.
• Education opportunities for disadvantaged groups as a way of preventing human trafficking. Should the government provide marginalized people with free education? How can it affect human trafficking? Discuss it in your essay.  
• Why is a boycott an effective way of preventing human trafficking? If others start rejecting the goods produced by the victims of human trafficking, traffickers won’t get such huge profits. Everyone can make their contribution to the fight against this issue.

A problem-solution essay is particularly suitable for discussing modern slavery. Explore the facts and suggest how to stop this inhumane practice. Here’s how to write about problems and their solutions:

If you haven’t found a suitable topic, feel free to use our topic generator .

📝 Human Trafficking Essay Outline

Before you start writing, let’s have a look at some aspects to consider in your college essay on human trafficking. Here’s the basic template:

Human Trafficking Essay Introduction: How to Write

The most important part of an essay introduction is a hook. A perfect attention grabber for a human trafficking paper would demonstrate the seriousness of the problem right away. It, in turn, would make your audience eager to read on.

Have a look at some of the ideas for your essay’s hook:

• Cite statistical data related to the current situation with human trafficking.
• Start with a stirring quote to appeal to readers’ emotions.
• Pose a question related to your essay’s topic. Make the reader want to learn the answer.

Besides the hook, it’s logical to start your essay with some background information. This way, even an unprepared reader will understand your essay’s thesis. Think of what your audience may not know about your topic. It will help you determine what to include in this part of the introduction.

Here are some strategies:

• Tell about the countries and regions with the highest trafficking rates—for example, Thailand, the Philippines, India, South Africa, and Eastern Europe.
• Mention reasons behind this problem: unemployment, social discrimination, political instability, armed conflicts, etc.
• Give a solid definition of human trafficking or its specific type. It’s better to formulate your own one rather than take it from a dictionary.

It’s important to notice that your hook and background information should be relevant to your topic. Make sure these elements help to further the understanding of your essay’s main point.

Human Trafficking Essay Thesis

A thesis statement is your essay’s main point formulated in one sentence. It outlines the paper’s direction and provides an answer to the problem stated in the title. You place it at the end of the introduction.

A good thesis statement for a human trafficking essay usually presents the solution to a problem. However, the thesis’ contents depend on your essay’s type. For example, in an informative essay, you don’t need to prove or suggest anything. Instead, you say what you’re going to explain and how you’ll do it.

Once you’ve written the thesis statement, how do you determine whether it’s strong? Well, one way is to answer the questions from the following checklist.

If your answer to all three questions is “yes,” you can be sure of your thesis’s effectiveness.

Finally, don’t forget that the rest of your essay should support your thesis. If necessary, you can rework your statement to better suit the body paragraphs, or vice versa.

Human Trafficking Essay: Main Body

How do you make your essay on human trafficking credible and persuasive? Naturally, you want to add evidence. Here’s how to incorporate it into your paper:

• It’s better to start collecting your evidence before you start writing. Once you’ve found all the necessary information, it will be easier for you to structure the paragraphs. The point is to focus each section on a single aspect.
• Start each paragraph with a topic sentence. It should present the main idea that you will then support with evidence. Ideally, your audience should be able to follow your logic by reading the topic sentences alone.
• Finally, add your evidence. It can be statistics, facts from scholarly articles, quotes, or even anecdotes. Follow it with your explanation of this information. Say how it relates to the topic and supports your thesis.

Human Trafficking Essay Conclusion: Dos & Don’ts

A strong conclusion is a crucial part of any writing. In this final part, you synthesize your essay in a few sentences while adding a twist to it. If a conclusion is done right, it can leave a lasting impression on your readers.

This dos and don’ts list will help you write a perfect conclusion for a human trafficking essay. Check it out:

Don’t forget to introduce statistics in your essay on human trafficking. It’s available on numerous websites of governmental and non-governmental organizations dealing with the problem. You can find more ideas for your paper in our article about writing a child labor essay.

📑 Human Trafficking Essay Examples

We’ve prepared an outstanding sample essay on human trafficking that you can use as inspiration. You’re welcome to download the PDF file below:

Human trafficking is a global problem. It deprives millions worldwide of their freedom and dignity. Traffickers use various tactics to lure children, men, and women into the trap. For that reason, precaution measures should be taken. It is crucial to educate as many people as possible on the issue to ensure everyone’s safety.

Share your thoughts about human trafficking with us! Why do you think slavery is still in demand? If you were a politician, what would you do to prevent it? Tell us your suggestion in comments below!

Learn more on this topic:

• Canadian Identity Essay: Essay Topics and Writing Guide
• Nationalism Essay: An Ultimate Guide and Topics
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✏️  Human Trafficking Essay FAQ

Human trafficking is a topical issue in society because it’s an inhumane practice that affects millions of people worldwide. Writing on that topic helps understand why it is happening and what can be done about it.

Human trafficking is a very complex phenomenon driven by various economic, social, cultural, and other causes. Factors of a high human trafficking risk are poverty, social instability, exclusion, and lack of education and awareness (e.g., in South Africa.)

Pretty much every fact connected with human trafficking is horrifying. Nearly everything about this phenomenon can be considered a danger. As human trafficking is a form of slavery, it would be naive to presume there are any positive effects whatsoever.

Human trafficking is a serious problem, and you should be able to express your opinion on it. For example, it can be done in the form of an argumentative essay. It is vital to avoid using too many emotionally charged words. Remember to stay objective and provide facts and examples.

🔗 References

• Tips for Organizing an Argumentative Essay: Judith L. Beumer Writing Center
• Human Trafficking Essay: Bartleby
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment: NHS
• Embrace AI, Technology to Beat Human Traffickers: Reuters
• Essay Writing: Purdue University
• What Is Human Trafficking: Anti-Slavery International
• Human Trafficking: Encyclopedia Britannica
• End Human Trafficking: United Way
• Human Trafficking Facts: CRS
• OSCE Resource Police Training Guide: Trafficking in Human Beings: OSCE
• Study on the Economic, Social and Human Costs of Trafficking in Human Beings Within the EU: Europa.eu
• Writing a Research Paper: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Human Trafficking: FBI
• Human Trafficking: Causes and Implications: Research Gate
• Writing a Persuasive Essay: Hamilton College
• Parts of an Informative Essay: Pen and the Pad
• Expository Essay Outline: Columbus City Schools
• Introductions & Conclusions: University of Arizona
• Writing the Introduction: Monash University
• How to Write a Thesis Statement: Indiana University Bloomington
• Writing a Thesis Statement: Piedmont University
• 4 Ways Anyone Can Fight Human Trafficking: The Muse
• What Fuels Human Trafficking?: UNISEF USA
• What Is Human Trafficking?: Homeland Security
• Psychological Tactics Used by Human Traffickers: Psychology Today
• Psychological Coercion in Human Trafficking: An Application of Biderman’s Framework: NIH
• Warning Signs of Human Trafficking: State of Nevada
• Human Trafficking: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
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Turning technology against human traffickers

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Last October, the White House released the National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking. The plan was motivated, in part, by a greater understanding of the pervasiveness of the crime. In 2019, 11,500 situations of human trafficking in the United States were identified through the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and the federal government estimates there are nearly 25 million victims globally.

This increasing awareness has also motivated MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center, to harness its technological expertise toward combating human trafficking.

In recent years, researchers in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Systems Group have met with federal, state, and local agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and technology companies to understand the challenges in identifying, investigating, and prosecuting trafficking cases. In 2019, the team compiled their findings and 29 targeted technology recommendations into a roadmap for the federal government. This roadmap informed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recent counter-trafficking strategy released in 2020.

"Traffickers are using technology to gain efficiencies of scale, from online commercial sex marketplaces to complex internet-driven money laundering, and we must also leverage technology to counter them," says Matthew Daggett, who is leading this research at the laboratory.

In July, Daggett testified at a congressional hearing about many of the current technology gaps and made several policy recommendations on the role of technology countering trafficking. "Taking advantage of digital evidence can be overwhelming for investigators. There's not a lot of technology out there to pull it all together, and while there are pockets of tech activity, we see a lot of duplication of effort because this work is siloed across the community," he adds.

Breaking down these silos has been part of Daggett's goal. Most recently, he brought together almost 200 practitioners from 85 federal and state agencies, NGOs, universities, and companies for the Counter–Human Trafficking Technology Workshop at Lincoln Laboratory. This first-of-its-kind virtual event brought about discussions of how technology is used today, where gaps exist, and what opportunities exist for new partnerships. 

The workshop was also an opportunity for the laboratory's researchers to present several advanced tools in development. "The goal is to come up with sustainable ways to partner on transitioning these prototypes out into the field," Daggett adds.

Uncovering networks

One the most mature capabilities at the laboratory in countering human trafficking deals with the challenge of discovering large-scale, organized trafficking networks.

"We cannot just disrupt pieces of an organized network, because many networks recover easily. We need to uncover the entirety of the network and disrupt it as a whole," says Lin Li, a researcher in the Artificial Intelligence Technology Group.

To help investigators do that, Li has been developing machine learning algorithms that automatically analyze online commercial sex ads to reveal whether they are likely associated with human trafficking activities and if they belong to the same organization.  

This task may have been easier only a few years ago, when a large percentage of trafficking-linked activities were advertised, and reported, from listings on Backpage.com. Backpage was the second-largest classified ad listing service in the United States after Craigslist, and was seized in 2018 by a multi-agency federal investigation. A slew of new advertising sites has since appeared in its wake. "Now we have a very decentralized distributed information source, where people are cross-posting on many web pages," Li says. Traffickers are also becoming more security-aware, Li says, often using burner cellular or internet phones that make it difficult to use "hard" links such as phone numbers to uncover organized crime.

So, the researchers have instead been leveraging "soft" indicators of organized activity, such as semantic similarities in the ad descriptions. They use natural language processing to extract unique phrases in content to create ad templates, and then find matches for those templates across hundreds of thousands of ads from multiple websites.

"We've learned that each organization can have multiple templates that they use when they post their ads, and each template is more or less unique to the organization. By template matching, we essentially have an organization-discovery algorithm," Li says.

In this analysis process, the system also ranks the likelihood of an ad being associated with human trafficking. By definition, human trafficking involves compelling individuals to provide service or labor through the use of force, fraud, or coercion — and does not apply to all commercial sex work. The team trained a language model to learn terms related to race, age, and other marketplace vernacular in the context of the ad that may be indicative of potential trafficking. 

To show the impact of this system, Li gives an example scenario in which an ad is reported to law enforcement as being linked to human trafficking. A traditional search to find other ads using the same phone number might yield 600 ads. But by applying template matching, approximately 900 additional ads could be identified, enabling the discovery of previously unassociated phone numbers.

"We then map out this network structure, showing links between ad template clusters and their locations. Suddenly, you see a transnational network," Li says. "It could be a very powerful way, starting with one ad, of discovering an organization's entire operation."

Analyzing digital evidence

Once a human trafficking investigation is underway, the process of analyzing evidence to find probable cause for warrants, corroborate victim statements, and build a case for prosecution can be very time- and human-intensive. A case folder might hold thousands of pieces of digital evidence — a conglomeration of business or government records, financial transactions, cell phone data, emails, photographs, social media profiles, audio or video recordings, and more.

"The wide range of data types and formats can make this process challenging. It's hard to understand the interconnectivity of it all and what pieces of evidence hold answers," Daggett says. "What investigators want is a way to search and visualize this data with the same ease they would a Google search."

The system Daggett and his team are prototyping takes all the data contained in an evidence folder and indexes it, extracting the information inside each file into three major buckets — text, imagery, and audio data. These three types of data are then passed through specialized software processes to structure and enrich them, making them more useful for answering investigative questions.                                

The image processor, for example, can recognize and extract text, faces, and objects from images. The processor can then detect near-duplicate images in the evidence, making a link between an image that appears on a sex advertisement and the cell phone that took it, even for images that have been heavily edited or filtered. They are also working on facial recognition algorithms that can identify the unique faces within a set of evidence, model them, and find them elsewhere within the evidence files, under widely different lighting conditions and shooting angles. These techniques are useful for identifying additional victims and corroborating who knows whom.

Another enrichment capability allows investigators to find "signatures" of trafficking in the data. These signatures can be specific vernacular used, for example, in text messages between suspects that refer to illicit activity. Other trafficking signatures can be image-based, such as if the picture was taken in a hotel room, contains certain objects such as cash, or shows specific types of tattoos that traffickers use to brand their victims. A deep learning model the team is working on now is specifically aimed at recognizing crown tattoos associated with trafficking. “The challenge is to train the model to identify the signature across a wide range of crown tattoos that look very different from one another, and we’re seeing robust performance using this technique," Daggett says.

One particularly time-intensive process for investigators is analyzing thousands of jail phone calls from suspects who are awaiting trial, for indications of witness tampering or continuing illicit operations. The laboratory has been leveraging automated speech recognition technology to develop a tool to allow investigators to partially transcribe and analyze the content of these conversations. This capability gives law enforcement a general idea of what a call might be about, helping them triage ones that should be prioritized for a closer look. 

Finally, the team has been developing a series of user-facing tools that use all of the processed data to enable investigators to search, discover, and visualize connections between evidentiary artifacts, explore geolocated information on a map, and automatically build evidence timelines.

"The prosecutors really like the timeline tool, as this is one of the most labor-intensive tasks when preparing for trial," Daggett says.

When users click on a document, a map pin, or a timeline entry, they see a data card that links back to the original artifacts. "These tools point you back to the primary evidence that cases can be built on," Daggett says. "A lot of this prototyping is picking what might be called low-hanging fruit, but it's really more like fruit already on the ground that is useful and just isn't getting picked up."

Victim-centered training

These data analytics are especially useful for helping law enforcement corroborate victim statements. Victims may be fearful or unwilling to provide a full picture of their experience to investigators, or may have difficulty recalling traumatic events. The more nontestimonial evidence that prosecutors can use to tell the story to a jury, the less pressure prosecutors must place on victims to help secure a conviction. There is greater awareness of the retraumatization that can occur during the investigation and trial processes.    

"In the last decade, there has been a greater shift toward a victim-centered approach to investigations," says Hayley Reynolds, an assistant leader in the Human Health and Performance Systems Group and one of the early leaders of counter–human trafficking research at the laboratory. "There's a greater understanding that you can't bring the case to trial if a survivor's needs are not kept at the forefront."

Improving training for law enforcement, specifically in interacting with victims, was one of the team's recommendation in the trafficking technology roadmap. In this area, the laboratory has been developing a scenario-based training capability that uses game-play mechanics to inform law enforcement on aspects of trauma-informed victim interviewing. The training, called a “serious game,” helps officers experience how the approach they choose to gather information can build rapport and trust with a victim, or can reduce the feeling of safety and retraumatize victims. The capability is currently being evaluated by several organizations that specialize in victim-centered practitioner training. The laboratory recently published a journal on serious games built for multiple mission areas over the last decade.

Daggett says that prototyping in partnership with the state and federal investigators and prosecutors that these tools are intended for is critical. "Everything we do must be user-centered," he says. "We study their existing workflows and processes in detail, present ideas for technologies that could improve their work, and they rate what would have the most operational utility. It's our way to methodically figure out how to solve the most critical problems," Daggett says.

When Daggett gave congressional testimony in July, he spoke of the need to establish a unified, interagency entity focused on R&D for countering human trafficking. Since then, some progress has been made toward that goal — the federal government has now launched the Center for Countering Human Trafficking, the first integrated center to support investigations and intelligence analysis, outreach and training activities, and victim assistance.

Daggett hopes that future collaborations will enable technologists to apply their work toward capabilities needed most by the community. "Thoughtfully designed technology can empower the collective counter–human trafficking community and disrupt these illicit operations. Increased R&D holds the potential make a tremendous impact by accelerating justice and hastening the healing of victims."

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Related links.

• Report: "The Human Trafficking Technology Roadmap: A Targeted Development Strategy for the Department of Homeland Security"
• Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Systems Group
• Biotechnology and Human Systems Division

Related Topics

• Natural language processing
• Social networks
• Technology and society

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Human Rights — Human Trafficking

Essays on Human Trafficking

Let's shine a light on this important topic and explore different essay ideas! 🌍✨

🔍💭 The Importance of Human Trafficking Essays

Human trafficking is an incredibly crucial issue that deserves our attention. Writing an essay about it can help raise awareness, educate others, and even contribute to finding solutions. So, why not take on this topic and make a difference with your words? 📝💪

💡🎯 Choosing a Topic for Your Human Trafficking Essay

When choosing a topic for your human trafficking essay, it's essential to find something that resonates with you and allows you to express your thoughts and ideas effectively. Consider areas like the causes and effects, arguments, opinions, or informative aspects of human trafficking. 🤔✍️

📝💥 Argumentative Essay Topics

For an argumentative essay, you'll need to present a clear stance on the issue and support it with solid evidence. Here are ten potential topics to get you inspired:

• The role of poverty in human trafficking.
• The impact of globalization on human trafficking.
• The effectiveness of international laws in combating human trafficking.
• The responsibility of governments in addressing human trafficking.
• The connection between human trafficking and organized crime.
• The role of technology in facilitating human trafficking.
• The psychological effects on human trafficking survivors.
• The role of education in preventing human trafficking.
• The importance of rehabilitation for human trafficking victims.
• The role of media in raising awareness about human trafficking.

📚💡 Cause and Effect Essay Topics

If cause and effect essays are more your style, focus on exploring the reasons behind human trafficking and its consequences. Here are ten potential topics:

• The root causes of human trafficking in developing countries.
• The economic impact of human trafficking on countries.
• The social consequences of human trafficking on communities.
• The impact of human trafficking on gender equality.
• The connection between human trafficking and drug trafficking.
• The environmental factors contributing to human trafficking.
• The long-term effects of human trafficking on victims.
• The impact of human trafficking on public health.
• The relationship between human trafficking and child labor.
• The consequences of human trafficking on human rights.

😊💬 Opinion Essay Topics

Opinion essays allow you to express your personal viewpoint on human trafficking. Here are ten potential topics to showcase your thoughts:

• The role of the government in preventing human trafficking.
• The importance of collaboration between countries to combat human trafficking.
• The ethical implications of human trafficking for sex work.
• The responsibility of consumers in fighting human trafficking.
• The impact of media sensationalism on the perception of human trafficking.
• The effectiveness of awareness campaigns in combating human trafficking.
• The role of education in empowering individuals against human trafficking.
• The importance of survivor stories in raising awareness about human trafficking.
• The connection between human trafficking and systemic inequalities.
• The role of social media activism in the fight against human trafficking.

📚🔎 Informative Essay Topics

If you prefer an informative essay, focus on educating your readers about different aspects of human trafficking. Here are ten potential topics:

• Understanding the different forms of human trafficking.
• The history and evolution of human trafficking.
• The legal framework surrounding human trafficking.
• The role of non-governmental organizations in combating human trafficking.
• The myths and misconceptions about human trafficking.

📜 Thesis Statement Examples 📜

Here are a few thesis statement examples to inspire your human trafficking essay:

• 1. "Human trafficking is a global crisis that demands immediate attention and concerted efforts to eradicate this modern-day form of slavery."
• 2. "Examining the root causes and consequences of human trafficking sheds light on the urgency of addressing this grave violation of human rights."
• 3. "This essay delves into the multifaceted aspects of human trafficking, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation in combating this heinous crime."

📝 Introduction Paragraph Examples 📝

Here are some introduction paragraph examples for your human trafficking essay:

• 1. "In a world plagued by the clandestine trade in human lives, our collective conscience must grapple with the harrowing reality of human trafficking. This essay embarks on a journey to unveil the hidden horrors, causes, and consequences of this global crisis."
• 2. "As the shadows of human trafficking continue to cast a dark cloud over our world, it becomes imperative to shed light on this pervasive issue. This essay serves as a beacon, guiding us through the labyrinthine complexities of human trafficking."
• 3. "Human trafficking, a grave violation of human rights, is a menace that persists in the shadows of society. This essay ventures into the heart of this issue, seeking to unveil the underlying factors and potential solutions."

🔚 Conclusion Paragraph Examples 📝

Here are some conclusion paragraph examples for your human trafficking essay:

• 1. "In conclusion, human trafficking is a scourge that tarnishes our humanity. However, through awareness, advocacy, and international cooperation, we can work towards a future where this abhorrent practice is eradicated, and every individual is granted the freedom and dignity they deserve."
• 2. "As we draw the curtains on this essay, let us not forget that human trafficking is a stark reminder of the darkness that exists in our world. But it is also a call to action, urging us to stand together in the fight for a future where exploitation and suffering have no place."
• 3. "Human trafficking may persist, but so does our resolve to combat it. This essay serves as a testament to the importance of addressing this issue head-on and working tirelessly to protect the rights and dignity of every person."

Paragraph About Human Trafficking

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Human trafficking refers to the abhorrent and exploitative practice of recruiting, transporting, harboring, or receiving individuals through coercion, force, fraud, or deception for the purpose of exploitation. It involves the severe violation of human rights and dignity, targeting vulnerable individuals, particularly women, children, and marginalized populations.

Human trafficking remains a significant issue in the United States, with victims being subjected to various forms of exploitation. While exact figures are difficult to ascertain due to the clandestine nature of the crime, it is estimated that thousands of individuals, including both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, fall victim to human trafficking within the country's borders each year. The United States serves as both a source and destination country for human trafficking. Victims are often coerced or deceived into various forms of exploitation, including forced labor, sex trafficking, and domestic servitude. Vulnerable populations, such as runaway and homeless youth, undocumented immigrants, and individuals with limited social support, are particularly at risk. The U.S. government, along with nonprofit organizations and law enforcement agencies, has been actively working to combat human trafficking through prevention, prosecution, and protection efforts. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) provides a framework for addressing trafficking crimes, ensuring victim support services, and prosecuting traffickers.

The origins of human trafficking can be traced back to the transatlantic slave trade, where millions of Africans were forcibly transported and enslaved in the Americas. This horrific chapter in history established a foundation of exploitation and commodification of human beings. In the 19th and 20th centuries, human trafficking continued to evolve, taking different forms such as forced labor, sexual exploitation, and child trafficking. During periods of conflict, such as World War II and the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, vulnerable populations became targets for traffickers seeking to profit from their desperation and displacement. The advent of globalization and advancements in transportation and communication have further facilitated the expansion of human trafficking networks. Poverty, gender inequality, political instability, and weak legal frameworks have created fertile ground for traffickers to exploit individuals, particularly women and children, for various purposes including forced labor, sex trafficking, and organ trafficking.

Sex Trafficking: This involves the recruitment, harboring, or transportation of individuals for the purpose of engaging in commercial sexual activities. Victims are often forced, coerced, or deceived into the sex trade, where they are exploited through prostitution, pornography, or other forms of sexual exploitation. Labor Trafficking: Labor trafficking involves the recruitment and exploitation of individuals for forced labor. Victims are coerced into working under exploitative conditions in industries such as agriculture, construction, domestic work, manufacturing, and hospitality. They may experience physical and psychological abuse, long working hours, withheld wages, and restricted freedom. Child Trafficking: Children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and can be subjected to both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. They may be trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced begging, child soldiering, or coerced into engaging in hazardous labor. Organ Trafficking: This form of trafficking involves the illegal trade of organs, where victims are coerced or deceived into donating their organs for transplantation. Organ trafficking often exploits individuals who are desperate for financial gain or are marginalized and lack access to healthcare. Forced Marriage: Victims of forced marriage are coerced or deceived into entering a marriage against their will. They may be subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and have limited freedom and autonomy.

1. Poverty and Economic Vulnerability 2. Gender Inequality 3. Armed Conflict and Political Instability 4. Lack of Awareness and Education 5. Demand for Cheap Labor and Commercial Sex 6. Corruption and Weak Legal Systems

Public opinion on human trafficking is generally characterized by strong condemnation and a call for action to address this grave violation of human rights. Most people recognize the seriousness and urgency of the issue and express empathy towards the victims of trafficking. There is a widespread belief that human trafficking is a heinous crime that exploits vulnerable individuals and perpetuates a cycle of abuse. Public opinion often demands stricter laws and harsher punishments for traffickers, as well as increased efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking. There is a growing recognition that human trafficking is not confined to distant lands but also occurs within local communities, prompting a sense of urgency to address the problem at both national and international levels. Many individuals and organizations actively engage in raising awareness, supporting victim services, and advocating for policy changes to combat human trafficking. Public opinion emphasizes the need for comprehensive approaches that focus on prevention, prosecution of perpetrators, protection of victims, and partnerships among governments, NGOs, and civil society. However, public opinion also highlights the importance of addressing the root causes of human trafficking, such as poverty, inequality, and lack of opportunities, to effectively combat this crime. The public expects governments and authorities to prioritize the fight against human trafficking and to allocate adequate resources to support prevention efforts, victim assistance, and survivor rehabilitation.

Films like "Taken" (2008), "Lilya 4-ever" (2002), and "Trade" (2007) have portrayed the harrowing experiences of trafficking victims, exposing the brutality and exploitation they endure. These films have sparked discussions about the hidden aspects of human trafficking and the need for action. Documentaries such as "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls" (2011) and "The True Cost" (2015) have delved into the intricacies of human trafficking, examining its social, economic, and political dimensions. These documentaries aim to educate the audience and inspire activism against this form of modern-day slavery.

1. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), there are an estimated 25 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. 2. Human trafficking is a highly profitable criminal industry, generating an estimated $150 billion in illegal profits each year. 3. Women and girls make up the majority of human trafficking victims, accounting for 71% of all victims globally. 4. The most common form of human trafficking is labor trafficking, which includes forced labor in industries such as agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. 5. Human trafficking also involves the trafficking of individuals for the purpose of sexual exploitation, with women and girls being the most vulnerable. 6. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that around 30% of identified trafficking victims are children. 7. Human trafficking is not limited to developing countries; it occurs in all regions of the world, including developed countries. 8. Contrary to common misconceptions, human trafficking can happen within a country's borders, and victims can be trafficked domestically.

Human trafficking is a topic of utmost importance to explore and understand due to its grave humanitarian implications and global impact. Writing an essay about human trafficking sheds light on the hidden and often overlooked aspects of this heinous crime. It provides an opportunity to raise awareness, educate others, and advocate for the protection of human rights. By delving into the complexities of human trafficking, an essay can unveil the harsh realities faced by millions of victims worldwide. It brings attention to the various forms of exploitation, such as sexual exploitation and forced labor, and exposes the vulnerabilities that make individuals susceptible to trafficking. Furthermore, an essay can analyze the factors contributing to the persistence of human trafficking, such as poverty, inequality, and systemic flaws in legal and immigration systems. Addressing this topic also highlights the importance of international cooperation, legislation, and grassroots initiatives in combating human trafficking. It provides a platform to discuss the role of government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector in preventing trafficking, prosecuting offenders, and supporting survivors.

1. Bales, K. (2012). Disposable people: New slavery in the global economy. University of California Press. 2. Chuang, J. (2014). The United States as a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking. In Human trafficking: A global perspective (pp. 107-124). Cambridge University Press. 3. Clawson, H. J., Dutch, N., Solomon, A., & Grace, L. G. (2009). Human trafficking into and within the United States: A review of the literature. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 4. Gallagher, A. (2010). The international law of human trafficking. Cambridge University Press. 5. Goździak, E. M., & Bump, M. N. (Eds.). (2008). Trafficking in human beings: Modern slavery. University of Pennsylvania Press. 6. Hodge, D. R. (2014). Social work and human trafficking: A multidimensional approach. Oxford University Press. 7. Kara, S. (2009). Sex trafficking: Inside the business of modern slavery. Columbia University Press. 8. Musto, J. (2019). Human trafficking: Exploring the international nature, concerns, and complexities. Routledge. 9. Shelley, L. I. (2010). Human trafficking: A global perspective. Cambridge University Press. 10. Surtees, R. (2017). Traffickers and their victims: Understanding trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. Springer.

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Human Trafficking - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

Human trafficking, a grievous global issue, involves the trade of humans for forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation. Essays might delve into the mechanisms, global networks, and the socio-economic or political conditions enabling human trafficking. Moreover, discussions could extend to international and local efforts to combat human trafficking, support victims, and the legal frameworks surrounding human trafficking and modern slavery. A vast selection of complimentary essay illustrations pertaining to Human Trafficking you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Illegal Immigration and Human Trafficking

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Human Trafficking in the Age of Social Media

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Modern-day Slavery in the United States

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Preventing Individuals from the Dangers of Human Trafficking

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Human Trafficking in the Philippines

What if you were given the most appealing chance to escape poverty and took it, just to find out your efforts landed you into the hands of human traffickers? Human trafficking is a large issue dealt with by countries all over the world, including the Philippines, a tier 1 country that is actively changing their methods of the battle against it. For example, one instance of this took place in 2003 where the country passed the "Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, […]

Modern Slavery – Prostitution, Labor, and Debt Bondage

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What is Human Trafficking?

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Societies Role in Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking is defined as the action/practice of illegally transporting people from one country/area to another, typically for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation. Human trafficking is a $32 billion-a-year industry, with 300,000 Americans that are under the age of 18 being allured into the commercial sex trade every year. Society should begin educating the signs of a trafficked victim, go through trainings of how to help a victim, figure out where their products that they use come […]

Celebrity Influences on Human Trafficking

For years human trafficking has been an ongoing problem that people have been unaware of and now many celebrities stepping up to bring awareness to the cause, like Jada Pinkett Smith. Pinkett Smith, displayed in the image on the right, is an American actress who is married to actor Will Smith. In the image we can see Pinkett Smith at an event where her media influence is large. She heard about human trafficking through her daughter who had recently become […]

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Spain, one of the oldest and most successful countries in the world. One of the biggest countries in all of Europe, and one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world. The history of Spain can be traced back hundreds of years when monarchs ruled the country. Of course, over time many things have changed. The economy, politics, tourism, etc. But, one thing that obviously changed over time is there criminal justice system. How it has developed from the past […]

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The City of Tampa our beloved home where we should feel safe and together as one community. No matter which gender, race or age you are, living in Tampa overall portrays to be a peaceful city where families can stabilize their life and grow with successful opportunity. Tampa is home to multiple suburban communities where kids are raised with their neighbors and play together in their parks. However, when you sit on the park bench and lose sight on your […]

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Human trafficking is happening here Arizona, right in front of our noses. Let's start off by telling you a little bit more about human trafficking. Human trafficking is criminalized under the United States law, also under federal law, it is a crime to compel another person to provide labor, services, or commercial sex. Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that is happening in every state, including Arizona. NHTH (National Human Trafficking Hotline), has been working with providers, law […]

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Freedom is inarguably the most treasured right in the United States. But each year, roughly 18,000 men, women and children are trafficked in the United States. Human trafficking is a public health concern that affects individuals, families and entire communities across generations. The health care system plays an important role in identifying and treatment victims of human trafficking; however, how trained are the medical professionals on how to identify and properly treat the victims to ensure a successful recovery? What […]

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There is a strong relationship between drug trafficking, drug use, and gun violence. The research attempts to come up with a solution for the research question why does drug trafficking cause gun violence. Most youths have been involved in the use of drugs like marijuana, stimulants, hallucinogens, crack cocaine, heroin, and cocaine hence being involved in violence including gun violence (Johnson, Golub, Dunlap, 2000) This research will play a major role in improving academic research, sow the existing causal effect […]

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Limiting victimisation of human trafficking only to the period of traffic or transit of the victim would narrow the true essence of anti-trafficking laws. A sex worker, who was abducted/kidnapped, then trafficked and finally forced into the flesh trade, continues to be a victim of human trafficking and prosecuting him/her under prostitution laws would be penalising a victim of human trafficking. A criminal record for charges such as prostitution, disorderly conduct etc., under general criminal laws as well as specific […]

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For thousands of years forms of slavery and human trafficking have existed; however, the it was noted best in the 1400s when the European slave trading industry began in Africa (""Timeline of Human Trafficking ). Slavery is defined as a condition in which individuals are owned by others, who control where they live and at what they work (What is Slavery?; the Abolition of Slavery Project ). Many argue that slavery does not exist today because it has been globally […]

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Human trafficking, one of the most heinous crimes, is a global problem that is flourishing in many areas of the world including our local college campuses. The problem has infiltrated Arizona State University (ASU ) as female students have reported exploitation and coercion at university events by traffickers promoting prostitution. Aside from prostitution, students could be at risk of being abducted and exploited for other human trafficking crimes such as drug trafficking, enslavement, organ transplants, or forced labor. Human trafficking […]

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How To Write an Essay About Human Trafficking

Introduction to the complex issue of human trafficking.

Writing an essay on human trafficking requires a comprehensive understanding of its multifaceted nature. Human trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery, involves the illegal trade of humans for exploitation or commercial gain. In your introduction, outline the various forms of human trafficking, including labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and child trafficking. Acknowledge the global scope of this crime and its impact on individuals and societies. This introductory section should provide a clear foundation for your essay, highlighting the significance of the issue and the necessity of addressing it through various lenses, including legal, social, and human rights perspectives.

Analyzing the Causes and Consequences

The body of your essay should delve into the complex causes and consequences of human trafficking. Explore the various factors that contribute to human trafficking, such as poverty, lack of education, political instability, and demand for cheap labor and sexual exploitation. Discuss how human trafficking violates basic human rights and results in severe psychological, physical, and social consequences for victims. This part of your essay should be supported with facts, statistics, and real-life examples to provide a thorough understanding of the issue. It's crucial to maintain a respectful and sensitive tone, considering the severity and personal nature of the crimes involved.

Addressing Legal Frameworks and Global Responses

In this section, focus on the legal frameworks and global responses to human trafficking. Analyze the international laws and treaties, such as the Palermo Protocol, and national legislations that have been implemented to combat human trafficking. Discuss the roles of various international and non-governmental organizations in prevention, protection, and prosecution. Additionally, consider the challenges in enforcing these laws and the gaps that still exist in the global fight against human trafficking. This part of your essay should highlight the importance of a coordinated international response and the ongoing efforts to strengthen legal and practical measures.

Concluding with a Call to Action

Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the critical need for continued attention and action against human trafficking. Highlight the importance of raising awareness, improving legal frameworks, and supporting victim rehabilitation. Encourage readers to consider their role in combating human trafficking, whether through education, advocacy, or supporting relevant organizations. A strong conclusion will not only provide closure to your essay but also inspire a sense of responsibility and urgency in addressing this global issue.

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What Is Human Trafficking? A Review Essay

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Essay on Human Trafficking

Students are often asked to write an essay on Human Trafficking in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Human Trafficking

Understanding human trafficking.

Human trafficking is a serious global issue. It involves the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain. Victims are often lured with false promises of well-paying jobs or manipulated by people they trust.

Types of Human Trafficking

The main types of human trafficking are forced labor, sex trafficking, and child trafficking. Forced labor involves making people work against their will. Sex trafficking involves forcing victims into sexual exploitation. Child trafficking includes all these forms but involves children.

Preventing Human Trafficking

To prevent human trafficking, we must raise awareness about its reality. Educating people about its signs and consequences can help prevent it. Additionally, supporting victim services is crucial.

Also check:

• Paragraph on Human Trafficking
• Speech on Human Trafficking

250 Words Essay on Human Trafficking

Human trafficking, a grave violation of human rights, is a complex issue that has plagued societies globally. It is a form of modern-day slavery, where individuals are exploited through force, fraud, or coercion for various purposes such as forced labor, sexual exploitation, or organ trafficking.

The Scale of the Problem

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that human trafficking is the third most profitable crime after drug trafficking and arms smuggling. This illicit trade thrives due to poverty, political instability, armed conflict, and corruption, affecting millions of victims, predominantly women and children.

Measures to Combat Human Trafficking

Addressing human trafficking requires a multi-faceted approach. Legal measures, such as strict laws and penalties, are crucial. The Palermo Protocol, adopted by the UN, provides a framework for criminalizing trafficking, protecting victims, and promoting cooperation among states.

The Role of Education and Awareness

Education and awareness play a pivotal role in combating human trafficking. By informing communities about the tactics used by traffickers and the rights of individuals, we can empower potential victims to protect themselves.

Human trafficking is a pressing issue that demands global attention and action. Through a combination of legal measures, education, and international cooperation, we can work towards eradicating this heinous crime and safeguarding human dignity.

500 Words Essay on Human Trafficking

Introduction to human trafficking.

Human trafficking, a grave violation of human rights, is a contemporary global issue that transcends borders, cultures, and economies. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that enslaves nearly 25 million people around the world. This heinous crime involves the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain and is often referred to as ‘modern-day slavery’.

The Mechanics of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking operates on the principles of supply and demand. The demand for cheap labor, sexual services, and certain criminal activities fuels this illicit trade. The supply side, however, is driven by factors such as poverty, lack of education, gender discrimination, armed conflict, and political instability. Traffickers exploit these vulnerabilities to lure victims with false promises of employment, education, or a better life.

Forms of Human Trafficking

Human trafficking manifests in various forms, including forced labor, sex trafficking, child labor, and organ trafficking. Forced labor, also known as involuntary servitude, is the biggest sector of trafficking in the world. Sex trafficking victims are often involved in prostitution, pornography, or sex tourism. Child trafficking, another gruesome form, involves the exploitation of children in labor, soldiering, or sexual slavery. Organ trafficking, a lesser-known form, involves the illegal trade of organs.

Impacts of Human Trafficking

The impacts of human trafficking are devastating and far-reaching. Victims often suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats, and even death. Additionally, they often face long-term psychological trauma, disease, unwanted pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracism, and death. The societal implications include the reinforcement of gender and social inequalities, perpetuation of poverty, and undermining of public health, safety, and security.

Preventing human trafficking requires a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach. It involves strengthening laws and regulations, enhancing victim identification and protection, promoting awareness and education, and fostering international cooperation. Governments, non-governmental organizations, and individuals all have crucial roles to play in this fight against human trafficking.

In conclusion, human trafficking is a global human rights crisis that requires urgent attention and action. While the task is monumental, with concerted efforts and a commitment to uphold human rights, it is possible to combat this modern-day slavery. Understanding the complexities of human trafficking is the first step towards developing effective strategies to prevent it, protect victims, and prosecute perpetrators. The fight against human trafficking is not just a legal or political issue, but a moral imperative that tests our values as a global community.

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Anti-anti-trafficking? Toward critical ethnographies of human trafficking

• Published: 19 February 2013
• Volume 37 , pages 191–194, ( 2013 )

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Marcus, A., Snajdr, E. Anti-anti-trafficking? Toward critical ethnographies of human trafficking. Dialect Anthropol 37 , 191–194 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-013-9307-0

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126 Human Trafficking Research Topics & Essay Examples

Are you searching for the best human trafficking research topics? Look no further! On this page, you’ll find human trafficking topics for your research paper, speech, and many other writing assignments. Read on to discover the most interesting topics on human trafficking issues and essay examples!

🏆 Best Human Trafficking Essay Examples

✍️ human trafficking essay topics for college, 👍 good human trafficking essay topics, 🎓 human trafficking topics for research paper, ❓ human trafficking research questions, 🔎 research questions about human trafficking, 📝 human trafficking argumentative essay topics.

• Human Trafficking from Perspectives of Deontology, Utilitarianism and Egoism
• Human Trafficking: Ethical Issues
• The Role of Online Games in Human Trafficking
• Child Exploitation as a Form of Human Trafficking
• Human Trafficking as Violation of Human Rights
• Human Trafficking and Psychological Impacts
• Human Trafficking in Florida Law
• Human Trafficking in Thailand: Social Work Practice Many generations have come into being and exited this planet, leaving behind a legacy of positive virtues and harmful vices.
• Human Trafficking and Ethical Behavior Breaches Ethical theories such as deontology and utilitarianism guide human beings to condone specific actions such as human trafficking because they are unacceptable.
• The Victims of Human Trafficking Most of the victims of human trafficking are young boys and girls who cannot protect themselves against their captors.
• The Problem of Human Trafficking in America The human trafficking business thrives because judges are unable to prosecute traffickers. The nature of the crime requires that women who are victims be witnesses and give testimony in courts.
• Biological Theory Applied to Human Trafficking This essay aims to discuss how the use of biological theory in criminology can help explain the phenomenon of human trafficking and the role of poverty in it.
• The Case of Human Trafficking in China The Chinese government should distinguish between prostitution and human trafficking to put effective procedures for identifying victims of forced marriages.
• Human Trafficking and Legal Aspects In the present paper, the components of human trafficking, threatened populations, and legal aspects are presented and analyzed in detail.
• Human Trafficking: Risk and Causes The main purpose of the paper is to discover the prevalence, causes, and health risks associated with human trafficking.
• Human Trafficking Problem in Society Human trafficking is defined as the process through which human beings are recruited, transferred or received through forceful means with the intention of exploiting them.
• Human Trafficking and Forced Prostitution Human trafficking and its connection with prostitution remain a controversial topic, as do their perception and possible remedies.
• Effects of Human Trafficking on the Victims When evaluating the effects of human trafficking on victims, mental health issues are brought up as the direct outcome of being exposed to continuous violence and brutality.
• Detailed Analysis of Human Trafficking The persuasive paper presented below gives a detailed analysis of this predicament and how stakeholders can be involved to transform the current situation.
• Human Trafficking in the USA Human trafficking has been defined as the transportation, transfer or recruitment of human beings, by use of deception, abduction, coercion, and fraud.
• Human Trafficking – Modern-Day Slavery Modern-day slavery is one of the outcomes of globalization; it affects millions of people and brings immense revenue to the criminals.
• Human Trafficking and Poverty Issues in Modern Society The problem of human trafficking affects people all over the world, which defines the need for a comprehensive approach to this issue from the criminology perspective.
• The Case of Veronica: Human Trafficking This paper discusses the severe problem of human trafficking, as it adversely affects millions of individuals regardless of their gender, age, and nationality.
• The Role of Technology in Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Human trafficking and sexual exploitation are significant problems in contemporary society that constitute a violation of human rights.
• Human Trafficking Through a Historical Lens Human trafficking is a global issue that involves coercing a person to provide services or labor forcefully, violating their human rights.
• Human Trafficking as a Practice Problem Victims of modern-day slavery are exploited in every region of the world, forced to work or provide paid sexual services in real-life production environments and on the Internet.
• NGO Involvement in Human Trafficking Information Dissemination The research project aims to address the prevalence of human trafficking as a public health issue by exploring the potential opportunities.
• Human Trafficking and Poverty Discussion This paper synthesize information on human trafficking and poverty by providing an annotated bibliography of relevant sources.
• Human Trafficking in the United States Project Design and Implementation The research project aims to delve into the complex issue of human trafficking in the United States and the vulnerable populations targeted.
• The Internet Role in Human Trafficking This essay will argue that the problem of Internet use for human trafficking is unsolvable because there are not enough ways to control these processes.
• Human Trafficking and Prostitution: Religious Perspective The implementation of an ideal religion is possible in the context of human trafficking and forced prostitution.
• Human Trafficking and Its Use in Historical Lens The essay examines the historical origins and current impact of human trafficking, emphasizing the need for education and awareness to combat this widespread problem.
• Investigating the Nexus Between Human Trafficking and National Security The research paper investigates the nexus between human trafficking and national security from an economics perspective.
• Prostitution vs. Human Trafficking Many people believe that making prostitution a legal activity will help raise the status of prostitutes and promote their protection.
• Research on Human Trafficking in Arkansas Although the rates of child sex trafficking in Arkansas remain high, the authorities at all levels are concentrated on solving this problem.
• International Organizations Battling Human Trafficking This essay aims to analyze the role of NGOs and IGOs in the recent transnational measures that combat human trafficking.
• Data and Research on Human Trafficking One of the emerging issues regarding criminology is human trafficking that is conducted through organized crime.
• How COVID-19 Affected Human Trafficking This paper presents and supports the argument that the COVID-19 has led to an increase in human trafficking activities.
• Human Trafficking Concerning Minorities in the U.S. The issue of human trafficking concerning minorities and the measures of addressing the problem and dealing with will be discussed in this research paper.
• Nursing Code of Ethics in the Human Trafficking Victim Treatment When nurses face the settings in which their patients are the victims of severe public health issues, it is their explicit responsibility to take action.
• Human Trafficking: International Human Rights International human rights law defines human trafficking as the violation of an individual’s right to liberty through appropriation of their legal personality, labor and humanity.
• Human Trafficking: A Threat to All This essay analyzes the three mentioned types of human trafficking, proving that they are a threat to all of humanity, as it creates inequality and dependency on certain people.
• Human Trafficking: Term Definition In January 2009, a raid by Brazil police led to a rescue of more than 4,500 slaves who had been entrapped in ranches and plantations in remote areas of the country.
• Human Trafficking and Health Care Professional Preventing human trafficking by healthcare professionals largely depends on the government to develop registration purposely meant to make trafficking of people illegal.
• Christian Foundations in Government: Human Trafficking Human trafficking or trafficking in human beings is defined as the movement of people without their consent, usually by force for the intention of sexual or labor exploitation.
• Human Trafficking: National and International Challenges Social workers must respond to any humanitarian crisis domestically and abroad. The international issue of human trafficking and its impact requires the attention of social workers
• Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking and Poverty Be it through the sexual enslavement of girls or trafficking of males for forced labor, slavery has had a tremendous impact on modern society.
• Human Trafficking and Its Signs in Patients The problem of human trafficking is a health hazard for the victims. Places in which human trafficking occur vary depending on the purpose of this modern day slavery.
• Human Trafficking and Unethical Business in the US Over the years, human trafficking in the United States has been ranked as one of the significant challenges facing the federal government.
• Human Trafficking as a Modern-Day Slavery Problem The paper discusses the anti-trafficking measures of international organizations, such as UN, UNICEF, and UNESCO. The laws enacted by these organizations are further mentioned.
• The Most Shocking Aspects of Human Trafficking The issue of human trafficking can be discussed as challenging because there are opinions that this problem cannot be overcome or addressed effectively.
• What is Human Trafficking? This paper will set out to define human trafficking and highlight some of the factors why it continues to occur today. The paper will discuss the effects of human trafficking.
• Human Trafficking and Illegal Immigration Human trafficking is a problem which seems to be concealed and even ignored in the United States’ society because of a lack of the appropriate discussion.
• Human Trafficking: Current State and Counteracts Human trafficking involves transportation of people inside their countries and abroad to be sexually exploited and become source of cheap unskilled labor in the developed states.
• Human Trafficking and Public Service Announcements Public Service Announcements project will attempt to educate youth, especially young females, about safety rules to reduct human trafficking on local and national levels.
• “The War on Human Trafficking: U.S. Policy Assessed” by Anthony M. DeStefano “The War on Human Trafficking: U.S. Policy Assessed” by Anthony M. DeStefano is an overview of American government’s efforts to combat the human trafficking.
• Women’s Rights Organizations and Human Trafficking
• Human Trafficking and the Child Welfare Population in Florida
• The Link Between Human Trafficking and Cambodia
• Human Trafficking, Modern Day Slavery, and Economic Exploitation
• Illegal Adoption and Human Trafficking Impact on the US
• The Violent and Perverse System of Human Trafficking
• Human Trafficking Throughout South Africa
• The Differences and Similarities Between Human Trafficking and Slavery
• Human Trafficking From Latin America to Canada
• The Trafficking and Forms of Human Trafficking
• Islamic Law and Human Trafficking in Saudi Arabia
• Human Trafficking and the Trade of Human Sex Trafficking
• Medical Care for Human Trafficking Victims
• The Human Trafficking and the Saga of 53 Indian Nationals
• Human Trafficking Throughout the United States
• The Horrors and Statistics on Human Trafficking in the United States
• Human Trafficking and Its Effects on the Criminal Justice System
• Connections Between Human Trafficking and Environmental Destruction
• The Human Trafficking Aspect of the Military-Industrial
• Human Trafficking Has Increased Greatly With Globalization
• What Are Five Warning Signs of Human Trafficking?
• Human Trafficking and Why Do They Call It Modern-Day Slavery?
• Human Trafficking vs. Prostitution: Is There a Difference?
• Who Is the Biggest Human Trafficking in the World?
• What Is the Most Common Place for Human Trafficking?
• What Are the Top Ten Cities for Human Trafficking?
• What Is the Most Common Age of Human Trafficking Victims?
• Who Is Most at Risk for Human Trafficking?
• How Do You Escape Human Trafficking?
• How Do You Know if You Are Being Targeted for Human Trafficking?
• What Happens to Human Trafficking Victims After?
• What Does the Blade Mean in Human Trafficking?
• What Is the Rate of Human Trafficking in the US?
• What Country Has the Highest Human Trafficking Rate?
• Where Does US Rank in Human Trafficking?
• Where Is Human Trafficking Most Common in Europe?
• What Are the Top Three Countries for Human Trafficking?
• How Many People Are Victims of Human Trafficking in Europe?
• What Are the Three Types of Human Trafficking?
• Is Human Trafficking Common in Africa?
• Why Does Human Trafficking Happen in Africa?
• What Country Has the Most Human Trafficking in 2021?
• Is Romania Known for Human Trafficking?
• Why Is There So Much Human Trafficking in Eastern Europe?
• How Do Human Traffickers Mark Their Victims?
• What Are the Statistics on Human Trafficking of Children?
• How Common Is Human Trafficking in Japan?
• Is There Human Trafficking in Tokyo?
• Where Is Human Trafficking Most Common in the Middle East?
• How Does War Contribute to Human Trafficking?
• How has globalization affected the prevalence of human trafficking?
• What are the most common recruitment tactics of traffickers?
• What population groups are the most vulnerable to human trafficking?
• How do different countries combat human trafficking?
• How do social networks facilitate human trafficking?
• What is the connection between human trafficking and other organized crime types?
• How does police corruption contribute to human trafficking?
• What are the challenges in prosecuting human trafficking cases?
• What social and cultural attitudes perpetuate human trafficking?
• How can education programs help prevent human trafficking?
• The impact of decriminalizing prostitution on human trafficking.
• Can temporary work visas be effective in reducing human trafficking?
• Should human trafficking victims be treated as criminals or supported?
• Human traffickers: do they deserve harsher punishment?
• Should human trafficking be considered a form of terrorism?
• Do public awareness campaigns help prevent human trafficking?
• Demand-side vs. supply-side interventions to combat human trafficking.
• Is the private sector responsible for addressing human trafficking?
• Is human trafficking a domestic or international issue?
• The role of immigration policies in human trafficking.

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StudyCorgi. (2022, February 11). 126 Human Trafficking Research Topics & Essay Examples. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-trafficking-essay-topics/

"126 Human Trafficking Research Topics & Essay Examples." StudyCorgi , 11 Feb. 2022, studycorgi.com/ideas/human-trafficking-essay-topics/.

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1. StudyCorgi . "126 Human Trafficking Research Topics & Essay Examples." February 11, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-trafficking-essay-topics/.

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StudyCorgi . "126 Human Trafficking Research Topics & Essay Examples." February 11, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-trafficking-essay-topics/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "126 Human Trafficking Research Topics & Essay Examples." February 11, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/human-trafficking-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Human Trafficking were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 8, 2024 .

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The Fight Against Child Trafficking

Child trafficking is a crime – and represents the tragic end of childhood.

Child trafficking refers to the exploitation of girls and boys, primarily for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Children account for 27% of all the human trafficking victims worldwide, and two out of every three child victims are girls[i].

Sometimes sold by a family member or an acquaintance, sometimes lured by false promises of education and a "better" life —  the reality  is that these trafficked and exploited children are held in slave-like conditions without enough food, shelter or clothing, and are often severely abused and cut off from all contact with their families.

Children are often trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation or for labor, such as domestic servitude, agricultural work, factory work and mining, or they’re forced to fight in conflicts. The most vulnerable children, particularly  refugees  and migrants, are often preyed upon and their hopes for an education, a better job or a better life in a new country.[ii]

Every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, and as a result, children are forced to drop out of school, risk their lives and are deprived of what every child deserves – a future.

Help Children Now

Child Trafficking: Myth vs. Fact

Child trafficking affects every country in the world , including the United States. Children make up 27% of all human trafficking victims worldwide, and two out of every three identified child victims are girls[i].

Trafficking, according to the United Nations, involves three main elements[ii]:

• The act: Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons.
• The means:  Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim.
• The purpose:  For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

There is much misinformation about what trafficking is, who is affected and what it means for a child to be trafficked. Read on to learn more about the myths vs. facts of child trafficking.

MYTH: Traffickers target victims they don’t know

FACT: A majority of the time, victims are trafficked by someone they know, such as a friend, family member or romantic partner.

MYTH: Only girls and women are victims of human trafficking

FACT: Boys and men are just as likely to be victims of human trafficking as girls and women. However, they are less likely to be identified and reported. Girls and boys are often subject to different types of trafficking, for instance, girls may be trafficked for forced marriage and sexual exploitation, while boys may be trafficked for forced labor or recruitment into armed groups.

MYTH: All human trafficking involves sex or prostitution

FACT: Human trafficking can include forced labor, domestic servitude, organ trafficking, debt bondage, recruitment of children as child soldiers , and/or sex trafficking and forced prostitution.  

MYTH: Trafficking involves traveling, transporting or moving a person across borders

FACT: Human trafficking is not the same thing as smuggling, which are two terms that are commonly confused. Trafficking does not require movement across borders. In fact, in some cases, a child could be trafficked and exploited from their own home. In the U.S., trafficking most frequently occurs at hotels, motels, truck stops and online.

MYTH: People being trafficked are physically unable to leave or held against their will

FACT: Trafficking can involve force, but people can also be trafficked through threats, coercion, or deception. People in trafficking situations  can be controlled through drug addiction, violent relationships, manipulation, lack of financial independence, or  isolation from family or friends, in addition to physical restraint or harm.

MYTH: Trafficking primarily occurs in developing countries

FACT: Trafficking occurs all over the world, though the most common forms of trafficking can differ by country.  The United States is one of the most active sex trafficking countries in the world, where exploitation of trafficking victims occurs in cities, suburban and rural areas. Labor trafficking occurs in the U.S., but at lower rates than most developing countries.

Does child trafficking happen in the United States?

Yes, children are targeted for trafficking in the U.S. and are trafficked into the country from around the world. Often, children are trafficked from developing to developed countries. Victims are trafficked under various circumstances, including prostitution, online sexual exploitation, the illegal drug trade and forced labor.

In the U.S., 60% of child sex trafficking victims have a history in the child welfare system[iv]. Foster children in particular are vulnerable to being victimized by child trafficking[iiv]. Children in the foster care system often live in of the poorest communities in America, where Save the Children works to break the cycle of poverty and ensure that every child gets a healthy start, a quality education, and is protected.

How many children are victim to child trafficking?

An estimated 1.2 million children are affected by trafficking at any given time [iiv] . Around the world, most children who are victims of trafficking involved in forced labor. Worldwide:

• 168 million children are victims of forced labor [iv]
• 215 million children are engaged in child labor  [iii]
• 115 million of those children are involved in hazardous work  [iii]

How does trafficking differ from smuggling?

Trafficking and smuggling are terms that are commonly mixed up or considered synonymous. They both involved transporting another individual, but there are some critical differences.

Smuggling  involves the illegal entry of a person into a state where he or she is not a resident.

There are three key differences between trafficking and smuggling [iv] :

• Consent  – Individuals involved have consented to the smuggling. Trafficking victims either have not consented or have been coerced into consent.
• Exploitation  – When the smuggled individual arrives at their destination, the smuggling ends. Trafficking is the continuous exploitation of a victim to generate profit for the traffickers.
• Transnationality  – A person who is smuggled is always brought from one state to another. Trafficking can occur either within or between states.

How is Save the Children helping victims of child trafficking?

Save the Children works to combat child trafficking through prevention, protection, and prosecution. In order to maximize our efforts, we work with communities, local organizations and civil society, and national governments to protect children from being exploited – and to help restore the dignity of children who have survived.

Save the Children takes a holistic approach to tackle the root causes of child trafficking and involves children in the design and implementation of solutions.

Working alongside communities and local and national governments Save the Children supports:

• Preventing trafficking at the community level by creating awareness of the risks of migration
• Providing support to children who have been trafficked and help them return home and reintegrate into their communities
• Improving law enforcement and instigate legal reform to protect survivors of trafficking.

By supporting livelihoods, we help families avoid the need for their children to work. By raising awareness of trafficking, we reduce the number of children being trafficked. By helping rehabilitate survivors, we empower them to rebuild their lives. By protecting unaccompanied refugee children, we keep them from the clutches of traffickers.

We Launch Anti-Trafficking Advocacy Campaigns With all the excitement that led up to the South Africa World Cup 2010, it is easy to forget that such a major sporting event can lead to child trafficking and unsafe child migration. To help protect children during this time, and raise community awareness of the dangers, Save the Children in Mozambique launched an advocacy campaign called "Open Your Eyes" with radio and television programs, interviews, posters and postcards that reached 250,000 people

The former national team captain, Tico-Tico, even volunteered his own time to appear in several advertisements highlighting the problem of child trafficking. Even after the World Cup was over, this advocacy worked to help protect vulnerable children from exploitation

We Support Public Policy and Training One reason trafficking and exploitation of children flourish is because of inadequate laws and policies against it. In El Salvador, Save the Children focused on Mejicanos, one of the most frequent areas for trafficking of children, and supported the municipal council in drafting the first-ever ordinance to prevent child trafficking, and monitor its implementation.

Save the Children also conducts awareness training in schools, so children can learn how to keep safe, as well as how and where to report any suspicious activity. Now the majority of Mejicanos are working with Save the Children to share this experience and replicate its success throughout El Salvador.

We Use Research in Creative Ways to Protect Children from Child Trafficking “Positive deviance” – an innovative approach pioneered by Save the Children and well-documented in improving children’s health and nutrition, is also being used to fight child trafficking. Save the Children used this approach in two child protection programs — one to prevent trafficking in girls for commercial sex work in Indonesia, and the other to reintegrate girls who were abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and girl mothers into their communities in Uganda.

When is World Trafficking Day?

In 2013, the United Nations passed a resolution designating July 30 as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness about the growing issue of human trafficking and the protection of victims and their rights.

Who can I contact if I witness or suspect child trafficking?

The Childhelp® National Child Abuse Hotline – Professional crisis counselors will connect you with a local number to report abuse. Call: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® (NCMEC) – Aimed at preventing child abduction and exploitation, locating missing children, and assisting victims of child abduction and sexual exploitation. Call: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)

National Human Trafficking Resource Center – A 24-hour hotline open all day, every day, which helps identify, protect, and serve victims of trafficking. Call: 1-888-373-7888.

How Girls Are Affected By Trafficking

Tragically, both girls and boys are vulnerable to child trafficking. However, girls are disproportionally targeted and must deal with the life-long effects of gender inequality and gender-based violence .

Often, girls around the world are forced to drop out of school or denied access to income-generating opportunities. This resulting social exclusion can trap girls in a cycle of extreme poverty, as well as increased vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation.

Child Trafficking in Conflict Zones

Because child trafficking is often linked with lucrative criminal activity and corruption, it is hard to estimate how many children suffer, but trafficking and exploitation is an increasing risk as more children around the world live in conflict.

Globally,  426 million children live in conflict zones today . That’s nearly one-fifth of the world’s children. Living amidst conflict increases children’s exposure to grave human rights violations, which include child trafficking and gender-based violence. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Child Trafficking

What is child trafficking.

Child trafficking is a type of human trafficking.  According to the United Nations, trafficking involves three main elements [iv] :

• The act  - Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons.
• The means  - Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim.
• The purpose  - For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs.

National Human Trafficking Resource Center – A 24-hour hotline open all day, every day, which helps identify, protect, and serve victims of trafficking. Call: 1-800-373-7888.

[i] Give Her a Choice: Building A Better Future For Girls (Save the Children)  [ii]  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Child Victims of Human Trafficking: Fact Sheet [iii]  The Many Faces of Exclusion: 2018 End of Childhood Report [iv]  United Nations Office on Drug and Crime [v]  United Nations: World Day Against Human Trafficking [iv]  National Foster Youth Institute [vii] Child Trafficking Essentials

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Tackling human trafficking in Myanmar

Date: Thursday, 3 January 2019

Khawng Nu* was 22 years old when she was trafficked from the state of Kachin, northern Myanmar, to China. There are few job opportunities in the conflict affected and impoverished state, so when a woman from her village offered her work in a factory in China, Khawng Nu happily accepted. Upon arrival in China, she discovered that her womb would be the ‘factory’.

“They give pills to women and inject them with sperm for them to carry babies for Chinese men,” explains Khawng Nu, adding that women would supposedly receive 1 million MMK (USD 632) once the baby was born. “They are not allowed to breastfeed or to give their babies a name.”

Khawng Nu managed to send a message to her family, who shared it with the pastor and informed the village leaders. The broker from her village was arrested but didn’t disclose her location. Khawng Nu recalls seeing some 40 women on the floor of the building she was kept; some as young as 16.

There, she met Mun Pan*, who was barely 18 years old when she was trafficked from the village of Naung Mun, northern Myanmar.

“When I arrived, no woman wanted to tell me what the job was,” says Mun Pan. “They told me: ‘it’s a good job, you don’t have to do anything’. They gave me various medicines and injections and didn’t explain why.”

Khawng Nu says they were beaten and bullied if they put up any resistance. The women in Mun Pan’s room told her that if she tried to escape, she would be murdered and her body would not be returned to her family (an important rite in Kachin culture).

Eventually, both girls’ families were able to pay a ransom of sorts for their return. Khawng Nu’s parents had to borrow from neighbours to pay the 10 million MMK (USD 6,320) ‘fine’.

After her return, Khawng Nu gave the authorities a list of names of the other girls she had met in China, as many were from her village. Five of them were rescued, including Mun Pan.

UN Women’s local implementing partner, Htoi Gender and Development Foundation, assisted with the rescue and is providing legal support for their court cases.

“In most cases, the first broker is a relative or a friend,” explains Htoi lawyer Sar Li Htwi. She’s heard of women being resold to other families after giving birth, and of a baby girl being killed after delivery because the family wanted a son. She says in 8 out of 10 cases, women are trafficked as brides and another 20 per cent are trafficked to birth babies.

Myanmar signed a 2004 anti-trafficking agreement and passed a law in 2005, but procedures are unclear, anti-trafficking police have little budget, and the existing law “is still weak and not fully implemented,” says Ms. Li Htwi.

Htoi provides rescued women and girls with legal aid, psychosocial counselling, referrals to services, skills training for their economic recovery and human trafficking awareness training. Eight three-day training workshops have been organized since April 2018, covering 13 townships and engaging 165 participants. To further spread the messages locally, 35 community mobilizers were identified among those taking the training and given additional training, posters and leaflets to distribute locally.

It’s all part of a project on preventing and mitigating the impacts of trafficking through women’s empowerment and livelihood training, supported by UN Women and funded by the Government of Japan.

“As a Kachin woman, I was driven to advocate for the equal rights of women in Kachin,” explains Htoi Director Nang Pu.

Htoi also organizes peer mentoring groups for survivors to connect and support one another.

“At first, when I returned, I felt ashamed and I didn’t want to show my face,” says Khawng Nu. “Now, after meeting with other women trafficking survivors through the peer group organized by Htoi, I no longer feel alone and seeing that there are other women who went through the same experience gave me courage.”

The programme helps survivors and potential trafficking victims re-enrol in school or join vocational training programmes, where they learn both traditional skills like weaving, sewing and handicrafts, as well as new skills, such as fish farming and how to cultivate high-value crops, such as mushrooms, silkworm-mulberry and organic cotton.

The lack of income-earning opportunities for survivors often puts them at risk of being re-trafficking or other forms of exploitation. So, the programme also empowers women to set up and run their own shops and businesses as entrepreneurs or market vendors.

Khawng Nu now owns a sewing machine and is looking for more start-up capital to set up a tailoring shop.

In less than a year, the programme has already trained 125 trafficking survivors, women in at-risk communities and in Internally Displaced Peoples camps and villages, imparting financial management and marketing skills, linking beneficiaries to training centres and markets, and providing business start-up grants once training is complete.

*All names have been changed and family names avoided to protect survivos’ identity

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