Human trafficking is a crime against our brothers and sisters which must be addressed by everyone. It is a violation of human rights that no one can afford to ignore. Although it’s impossible to be certain of the exact amount of people being trafficked, it’s easy to be certain that anyone can become its next victim.

What it is
Basically, human trafficking is the non-consensual enslavement or bondage of people for the purpose of exploitation. This mistreatment frequently takes the form of sexual exploitation, forced labor, servitude, or forced removal of organs. The enslavement or bondage can occur as the result of recruitment, various means of coercion and threats, and abduction. It can also result from fraud, deception, abuse of power, and abuse of a person’s vulnerability. Despite mankind’s claims to being a civilized and humane species, these barbaric activities are very prevalent in today’s global society.

Countries of origination and destination
Every country has some degree of internal trafficking occurring, and so can be a point of origination. However, trafficking is done on an international basis as well. International human trafficking involves utilizing countries of origination, transit, and destination.

The origination countries are normally countries that are destitute, war-torn, politically corrupt, or suffering from the effects of climate changes or natural disasters. Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, China, Guatemala, Moldova, Nepal, Nigeria, Ukraine, and Vietnam are known to be source countries. Transit countries, like Israel and Mexico, are temporary stopping points in between the origination and destination countries.

These countries are generally neither extremely destitute nor affluent. Most of the destination countries are affluent ones like Belgium, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, and the United States. Some countries, like Cambodia and Thailand, are so open to human trafficking that they are used for all three purposes.

More information can be found here: CHW Human Trafficking Page.

How and why it’s used
Human trafficking is a highly-profitable type of supply and demand business venture which requires low start up funds and little risk. Traffickers supply humans to fulfill various consumer demands. The consumer demands may range from individuals seeking sexual pleasure to a couple seeking to adopt a child. The consumers can also include military organizations, medical facilities, and many other legitimate businesses seeking cheap labor. Since the demand frequently outnumbers the supply of humans voluntarily meeting the demands, traffickers enslave people to meet the remaining needs.

In order to make a profit, traffickers must obtain “merchandise” at a cheap price. Therefore, they usually lure their victims into a trap or simply abduct their victims. In 46% of the trafficking cases prosecuted in the U.S., the victim already knew the recruiter. Many people, especially children, become victims due to relatives selling them or placing them into the trafficker’s care.

When luring their victims, traffickers frequently use legitimate business marketing and sales techniques. The traffickers will advertise jobs, promise better living conditions, and sometimes will even arrange legitimate immigration visas. They rely on their prey’s hopes and fears to lure the victims into making initial contact. Once contact has been made, the trafficker uses a variety of methods to control the victim. These controls frequently entail debt bondage, drugs, physical restraint, emotional and sexual abuse, feigned affection, and physical violence.

Who’s targeted?
Due to the various types of demands that need to be fulfilled, traffickers target people from all ages, nationalities, genders, educational levels, socio-economic backgrounds and lifestyles. However, the majority of victims are women between the ages of 18 and 24 and children. These victims are most commonly used for sexual exploitation.

Members of the homeless, displaced, impoverished, and uneducated segments of society are highly likely to become trafficking victims. Run-away teens, people with drug/alcohol addictions, victims of domestic violence, and immigrants are extremely vulnerable.

Effects of human trafficking
Human trafficking has manifested various effects. On one hand, it generates wealth for the countries involved with trafficking, due to the types of jobs performed at a lower cost. It’s estimated that a global annual profit of $31.6 billion is made from the exploitation of trafficked forced labor. On the other hand, trafficking reduces jobs for the general population. Trafficking also creates higher safety and health risks for both victims and the general population. Human trafficking increases drug trafficking, violent crimes, immorality, and social unrest. These in turn create higher expenditures on healthcare, welfare and other social services, and penal systems.

Victims must endure social exclusion, intolerance, and stigmatization in the source and destination countries, even after they are returned to their homes. The victims most likely will develop post trauma distress, as well as other mental and physical health problems. Victims frequently must face the ramifications of criminal sanctions due to the criminal activities they are forced to carry out.

Solving the problem
There is no easy solution to the problem of human trafficking. The solution entails many socio-economical changes to be made on a global basis. It also requires the co-operation and coordination of every country in existence. It’s essential to set one standard universal definition and punishment for human trafficking. Once the universal law has been enacted, it’s essential that every law enforcement agency ensures it is enforced.

ABC news video:

Any solution requires every government to address three areas:

1) Prosecution of traffickers, which would increase the traffickers’ risk and reduce trafficking’s profitability
2) Protection for victims by making it easier for people to receive assistance before and after they become victims, and
3) Prevention of human trafficking by increasing public awareness, reducing consumer demand and reducing the population’s vulnerability to traffickers.

Addressing one area without addressing another one is futile.

Human trafficking is not just a crime against our brothers and sisters; it’s a crime against all decent human beings. No one government or person is going to eliminate the trafficking and exploitation of humans. All humans must make a conscious effort to work together to resolve the problems that allow trafficking to flourish in a global society.

More information can be found here: NOT-4-Sale.org/trafficking.html

Kathleen Hubert is a blogger who writes on a variety of topics. You can read some of her other work at auto loan rates.

We would like to thank our guest writers on The CHW Blog! We feel it’s a honor and pleasure, to have others participate and contribute to the great content, advice and opinions on and in our CyberHood, we all live in…
help us, help them, by supporting and visiting their sites!

Learn IT, DO IT, Teach IT, Share IT, BE IT

Your CyberHood Watch Partners

Dave Ballard & Bill Wardell

Radio Security Journalists

© 2006 – 2011 CyberHood Watch

Dave and Bill were interviewed by Dan Rascon a few months ago about this growing problem that our children are facing everyday…

“Sexting” Could Lead To Blackmail”

CYBERBULLYING is very real and comes in many disguises, that include online bullying or harassment, sexting and exploitation of (Sextortion) victims, cyber-stalking, etc… Read more

Utah Teen Falls Victim To Sextortion On The Internet

Reported by: Dan Rascon
Friday, February 04 2011

Hacking. Threats. Blackmail. Allegations of child pornography. All things a St. George family says they’re experiencing from a cyber bully that is demanding photos of their daughter.

The FBI once coined these kinds of crimes as “sextortion.” The family is being told give up pictures or the cyber bully goes public with some nude photos of their daughter.

But it’s not just the family this person is threatening. The stalker is also going after friends, hacking into their email and Facebook accounts sending them messages with the same threats.

An internet stalker is seeking out not just one teen but a whole circle of friends in St George, Utah to get photos of 18-year-old Cylie Santiago.

So now a young woman once caught up in the cyber space world is now speaking against it. Read more

“Cyber space is not safe at all and do not distribute anything that you don’t want anyone but yourself to see,” Cylie said.

Dave and Bill – The CyberHood Watch Partners are 100% in agreement with Cylie, please take her advice not to post anything that you don’t want anyone else to see…  Click below, this is the same advice Catherine Teitelbaum the Director of Child Safety at Yahoo gave us, when she was interviewed on CHWR a couple of weeks ago!!

Stop. Think. Connect.

Learn IT, DO IT, Teach IT, Share IT, BE IT

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

Radio Security Journalist

additional information and resources on Sexting:

OSA Investigates “Sexting”

10-ways-children-can-be-exploited-online

Top Ten Tips to Keep Teens Safe on Social Networks

Dear Friends,

Four minutes or less, daily, during November, will be one of your greatest personal impacts on the safety, and security of children, families, and businesses in the digital age.

Cheers - Congratulations Dave & Bill - Good Luck - Vote Everyday in November.

This is your chance to make a difference in the quality of protection in his or her child’s personal digital life. Everyone you do, or do not know has a stake in the outcome of The CyberHood Watch, and his or her child’s digital citizenship. Moreover, all that is required is a simple and convenient click of your mouse at Refresheverything.com/CyberHoodWatch or Text* 104046 to Pepsi (73774) and VOTE.

We are Radio Security Journalists and tireless advocates for the safety of children, families, & businesses in the digital age…We provide solutions for living a secure digital life. Your approval continues a successful and tireless advocacy for the future of responsible digital citizens.

The CyberHood Watch Partners, Dave & Bill, are asking for help – Personal friends, The CyberHood Watch community (“the Hood”), past guests of CHWR (live radio broadcast), social networks, and business communities for one vote each day of November.

Successfully Continue 2 Empower Children & Families In The Digital Age

Your votes will move us forward.

More importantly, checking out Dave & Bill, CHW, CHWR, OSA, and evaluating what we have built over several years will help you feel good about voting. Ultimately, it will be nice if you continue to return, find what you need, and share with us your thoughts or concerns.

CHWR provides more than two hundred hours of recorded interviews with authorities’ worldwide discussing digital life issues, and hope for better solutions to safeguard your digital persona.

Your CyberHood Watch Partners,

Dave & Bill
Radio Security Journalists

Who: Everyone… from teenagers to senior citizens!

What: Adult conversations and sharing images of themselves in a state of undress!

When: 24/7

Where: Everywhere mobile communication makes this very simple!

Why: Fun, excitement, experimenting and sharing time (dating) with others!

How: type it ~ SEND IT!

Learn how to protect you and your family from this exploding online problem and potential life changing consequence of engaging in this criminal activity at any age!

Adam J. Schwebach Ph.D. talks about cell phone safety… Adam practices at the Neurology Learning & Behavior Center in SLC and he joined The CyberHood Watch partners in the Hood today… and shared his knowledge and wisdom about Texting, Sexting, Cyberbullying!

All the info you’ll need to understand SEXting

Your Online Security Authority eZine – OSA Investigates “Sexting”

Thanks Adam for your time today… and we’re looking forward to your new website and system to help parents with the problems concerning teens and mobile communication: http://ClarityLearningCenter.com will be open mid-May and www.samgoldstein.com

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

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• Survey: Teens love cell phones; schools, not quite (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

I was doing some research for our OSA blog network… and I came across an old resource link and found that it is still a great resource and a very informative when it comes to Online Security Issues!

So take my advice and download this booklet below plus check out all the info on their website: http://consumer.gov/ and the blog.

Net Cetera: Chatting with Kids about Being Online

Net Cetera is a free booklet from the Federal Trade Commission chock-full of practical tips to help parents help their kids navigate the online world — whether they’re dealing with social networking and cyberbullying or sexting and file-sharing.

Below is the top resources according to the CHW & OSA partners and very relative and useful informational resources for Children, Home, & Work we have found on the web.

Sometimes The Best Resources Online Are The Least Used .gov .edu .org

C is for children…Empower them
H is for home…Families Enjoying The internet Safely
W is for work…The Moms and Dads Operating Their Business

Children:

Crimes Against Children Research Center: http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/

Innocent Images National Initiative: http://www.fbi.gov/innocent.htm

Great Barrington Internet Child Safety: http://gbinternetchildsafety.com/

Common Sense Media: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Be Safe Online: http://www.besafeonline.org/English/safer

NCMEC: http://www.netsmartz.org/index.aspx

————————————————————————————————————-

Home:

InfoChat: http://infochat.wordpress.com

Child Internet: http://www.childinternet.com/

OnGuard Online: http://www.onguardonline.gov/default.aspx

CyberBullying411: http://cyberbully411.org/

SafetyClicksBlog: http://blog.safetyclicks.com/

imaginary eric: http://www.imaginaryeric.com/

Sue Scheff Blog: http://suescheffblog.com/about/

Digital Youth Research: http://digitalyouth.ischool.berkeley.edu/

EU Kids Online: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/EUKidsOnline/

————————————————————————————————————-

Work:

Computer World: http://www.computerworld.com/

AbsoluteSoftware: http://blog.absolute.com/

IDguardian.com: http://www.idguardian.com/

FTC Red Flag Rules: http://ftc.gov/redflagsrule/faqs.shtm

Berkman Center For Internet & Society: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/

WiredSafely: http://wiredsafety.org/

PewResearch Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/

PewResearch Center: http://pewresearch.org/

Europe’s Information Society: http://ec.europa.eu/info

The London Scholl Of Economics and Political Science: www.lse.ac.uk/

————————————————————————————————————-

And now we’ll be including http://consumer.gov/ to our resource list… So, please take the time to check out all of these websites, and share the information with your families and friends

Your CHW Partner

Bill Wardell

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• Cybersafety Booklet for Parents and Kids Now Available (ftc.gov)
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• Cyberbullying 2 0 (slideshare.net)

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What is the opposite of LOVE, is it HATE? NO!! it’s ABUSE in all of it’s insidious forms, that includes: Child, Sexual, Spousal, Human Trafficking, Animal, ect… ABUSE – comes from the inability or lack of communication and/or understanding, and that always breads contempt, cruelty and then HATERED!

Your Online Security Authority eZine
February, Is The Month Of LOVE… OSA Investigates

Check out this months OSAeZine, click the link above!

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

Potential employers and leading institutions are Digging Deeper!

Alan, who is looking for a position in New York and did not want his name used for fear of jeopardizing his job search, said: “The HR person was almost trying to trick my reference into saying something negative. They were asking, ‘What are Alan’s weaknesses? What can he improve on?’ and on and on, beyond what was expected. It was like the third degree.”

Hiring managers are looking to get beyond the name, rank and serial number approach used by so many employers that have told by their HR department not to provide too much information, said Maryann Donovan, president of recruiting firm Impact Personnel in Norwalk…

With all the emphasis over the past 5 years to be more social and use social media to promote you and brand yourself as the expert, person to call, and hopefully the authority that everyone looks to for the latest and greatest info in your niche, while corporate America have learned what social media is and using it to now promote the companies to their customers they are also using those same tools to find out who their new employees will are going to be!!!

So, what can you do? Good question, lets look at the 4 steps you can take:

Step one:  Build your Reputation!
Step two:  Nurture your Reputation!
Step three:  Protect your Reputation!
Step four:  Defend your Reputation!

If you don’t think this problem is real, look at a couple of examples that we published last year in our OSA Investigates special issue about sexting and the potential of a living legacy…

Choices Makes a Lifelong Legacy

This was never as TRUE than now, on all the Web 2.0 social communities…

Step one:  Build your Reputation!  [Make good choices]
Step two:  Nurture your Reputation!  [Continue to make good choices]
Step three:  Protect your Reputation!  [Be On Guard, All Of The Time]
Step four:  Defend your Reputation!  [Use Reputation Defender]

Because – Potential Employers And Leading Institutions Are Digging Deeper!

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

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• Reflections on a Decade (metamorphblog.com)

After watching the show on Wednesday night I thought I would write a post about the subject and cover some of the concerns the CHW Partners have had and have also found in talking with professionals that deal with this daily…

Such as Carlos Flores, who is a Registered Nurse with over 20 years experience, listen to the interview:

This is the search string I typed into Google to do my initial research for today’s post. I came up with the title in my mind and thought what other info could I find doing a quick search of: The Choking Game Goes “Primetime” crazy how this was the first result that was listed in Google’s Top 10…

Here is the video [clip] If you get a chance please watch this episode, and learn and listen to the kids in this story this happens everyday and it only takes one bad experience and your CHILD is dead! no Second Chances… just like a drug overdose, in the choking games is DEATH!

A few months ago we highlighted some more heart breaking videos in the OSA Investigates The Choking Game… Click cover below to see:

Your Online Security Authority eZine
OSA Investigates The Choking Game…

Another recent story: Choking game’ more popular with rural kids.

A new report suggests a large number of eighth-graders in Oregon have taken part in the “choking game,” the dangerous practice of choking each other to get a feeling of euphoria.

Criminal Minds episode “Risky Business” an excellent job on relaying many facts about the Choking Game in a prime time drama.

Criminal Minds

Don’t let your Child become a Statistic?!

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell

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• Study: ‘Choking game’ more popular with rural kids (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Vital Signs: Choking Game No Mystery to Children, Oregon Study Finds (nytimes.com)

Help The CyberHood Watch use this day to spread awareness and create action in the fight against modern day slavery. Today we will send out news, information, and updates about the issue and CyberHood Watch’s work through all of our social networking sites. Please help us spread the word about human trafficking to your own networks!

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day is 01/11/10 !!

I wrote an article in the September Issue of OSA Investigates, last year… asking the question: How Can This Be Possible In 2009?

9/24/2009 11:09:00 PMMore info on: Slavery, SEX Slaves, Human Trafficking and abuse…

Your CyberHood Watch Partner

Bill Wardell
OSAeZine Publisher