Child slavery is a business, which brings milliards of dollars to its owners, a reality of our world. Many people believe that it happens somewhere far away and not in our community. Slavery for us is just a picture from the textbook, but not the fact. The Civilized world, talking about the triumph of human rights overlooks millions of children fall into a trade turnover of human trafficking in the form of domestic servitude, child soldier, and sex slavery. Even though all of them should be taken under a serious control, the latter one should pose the biggest concern, mainly because of the demand increase on this market, the absence of an appropriate system of criminal punishment and the growing power of the online human trading.
The Absence of Punishment
Nowadays the rights of the endangered species of cockroaches and exotic trees are more protected than the children’s safety. A huge spread of the slave trade is enormous and the overall profit that it brings to the owners of the business account for nine billiard dollars. This sum exceeds the fiscal income of drug smuggling and illegal arms trading. According to the information that was released by the United States Department of State, the department that annually reflects full and credible summing-up on the current human trafficking situation, Ukraine and Russia are the biggest centers for the sexual slavery (United States of America, Department of State, p. 48).
The international police and human rights organizations many times announces the traffic output channel from Ukraine to the Western countries, the Near and Middle East and the USA. The traders smuggle the children in the Baltics, Georgia, Egypt, Russia, and Ukraine. Apparently, the actual international legislation cannot stop the criminals. There is no threat the criminal penalty. In the US, the offender convicted of the human trafficking receives an only five-year prison term, which objectively is not quite long. As for the contrast, an individual who committed a burglary would be sentenced to 20 years. A criminal also can choose to pay 100 thousand dollars fine instead of going to prison. Even though the sum could be considered appropriate, one could approximate that the sum required from the government would probably stand for 10% of the overall income of the human trader. Therefore, both punishments could be regarded improper for the crime of such gravity. Moreover, the sense of impunity could trigger a major development of the sexual slavery.
The Internet Power
The overall perspective aggravates with the growing accessibility of the Internet, which the legal system cannot control. Currently, it is as easy to buy a bike, organize a party or find a roommate as to be bought online. Government enforcement cannot influence the active spread of sex marketing on the Internet. There is no chance to find a location of the pimp, who posted a recruitment announcement or a churchman who lends credence to the girls and boys teaching them religion and after then sends them to the customer. With the Internet development, the criminals take up residence at their kitchens and do not bother themselves with any errands except for their business. Thus, the human trafficking will prosper, until the government has not taken the online world under thorough surveillance.
The Rising Demand
Apart from the growing power of the social network, the human trafficking market has seen a consistent increase regarding the number of customers that has recently appeared. Each commercial relations operate according to the same pattern of supply and demand aspects. In other words, if at the beginning of the career the Baker made ten donuts because he had ten buyers, now he would wave to prepare twenty, as he has become famous for the delicious taste. The same parallel could be drawn between the human traders and their customers. UNICEF estimates that annually from one to two million children are transported to another country for sex slavery (“Infographic: A global look at human trafficking,” 2016).
It becomes clear enough that demand fuels the supply. Consequently, it would be reasonable to presume that holding “customers” by using the law could significantly reduce the human trafficking around the world. Take, for instance, Sweden and Norway who have considerably lowered the level of prostitution by decriminalizing it. It may sound crazy at first; however, it was not the only change. The government legalized sex trade and criminalized people who paid for it. As a result, the number of sex trafficking cases in these countries lowered.
Conclusion
To sum up, the overall situation of the sex marketing in the world is intimidating. The current statistic fascinates and asks for an immediate reaction of the international legislative organizations. Apparently, there are measures that should be launched as soon as possible. The convict punishment conditions should be stiffened, as they may not have an intended effect on the people who are considering the idea of starting sex marketing. Special programs should be implemented. That would prevent people from online trading. Finally, yet importantly, the law should take under serious control the individuals who create demand on this illegal market and therefore undercut the whole supply.
References
Infographic: A global look at human trafficking. (2017). Web.
United States of America, Department of State. (2015). Trafficking in persons report, July 2015. Washington, DC: Kerry, J. F.