According to Todres (2013), human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation,” or transfer of people, using fear, coercion, or deceit, “for the purpose of exploitation” (para. 3). In other words, human trafficking is modern-day slavery. Although human trafficking is a global problem, labor and commercial sex trafficking is practiced domestically in the United States, which is influenced by consumer choices and the anti-trafficking policies of corporations.
In 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton (Ezell, 2016). Ezell (2016) affirmed that President Bush subsequently reauthorized and amended the Act to close loopholes and expand the law in 2003, 2006, and 2008 (renamed the William Wiberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act). However, human trafficking creates global annual estimates of over forty-three billion dollars (Ezell, 2016). There are more than thirty-five million worldwide slaves, with approximately …show more content…
Consumer decisions to purchase certain good or services influence trafficking. For example, diamond-mining in Angola and Sierra Leone have led to millions of deaths that has been fueled by the worldwide appeal to the stone (United States Department of Labor, 2016). Similarly, the American demand in electronics such as Apple mobile phones have led to workers’ suicides and other unethical practices by China’s manufacturing contractor Foxconn Technology (Meinert, 2012). Likewise, the solicitation of sexual favors has “nearly two million children … held in sexual bondage … that are often bought and sold,” which includes the trafficking of girls, as well as boys (McCoy, 2014, para. 10). That is, consumers are partially responsible that drives these unethical
In 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton (Ezell, 2016). Ezell (2016) affirmed that President Bush subsequently reauthorized and amended the Act to close loopholes and expand the law in 2003, 2006, and 2008 (renamed the William Wiberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act). However, human trafficking creates global annual estimates of over forty-three billion dollars (Ezell, 2016). There are more than thirty-five million worldwide slaves, with approximately …show more content…
Consumer decisions to purchase certain good or services influence trafficking. For example, diamond-mining in Angola and Sierra Leone have led to millions of deaths that has been fueled by the worldwide appeal to the stone (United States Department of Labor, 2016). Similarly, the American demand in electronics such as Apple mobile phones have led to workers’ suicides and other unethical practices by China’s manufacturing contractor Foxconn Technology (Meinert, 2012). Likewise, the solicitation of sexual favors has “nearly two million children … held in sexual bondage … that are often bought and sold,” which includes the trafficking of girls, as well as boys (McCoy, 2014, para. 10). That is, consumers are partially responsible that drives these unethical