All children
are equal at birth. They are innocent. They see the world with eyes full of
hope. They dream of a full life, of enjoyment and of love. But life doesn’t
turn out to be worth living for all of them. Millions of these innocent people
are reduced to objects and are sold in marriage, for labor, or for prostitution
against their will. Human trafficking is an evil that plagues even the most
developed countries like USA and Europe.
Every year,
over than 2.4 million human beings are traded as goods worldwide. Out of them,
90% are young girls and women who are raped, beaten, and not allowed to leave.
All human trafficking victims are reduced to a commodity whose life is in the
hands of its owner - if the commodity doesn’t please its owner; they either break
it or throw it away…
In Europe,
around 140,000 people are victims of human trafficking. In UK alone, 1,746
people are victims of human trafficking. When Americans think about human
trafficking, they think of people brought into the United States for sexual
exploitation but when you really open your eyes you realize that 244,000
American children are the risk of being abused and sexually exploited by
Americans! The condition in India is even worse. India has estimated 10 million
domestic workers who are lured into cities with the promise of a better job and
then sold as domestic workers where they are brutally beaten and sexually
exploited. Out of this, 1.2 million are children who are forced into
prostitution - and society has fallen to such a level that girls as young as 3
years in age are sold into the flesh- trade! The situation in the Arab
countries is beyond what words can describe… Human trafficking and slave trade
is prevalent in all countries across the globe. The sad part is that females -
like the goddesses Indians worship, the queen that rules Europe, and the body
that gives life and ensures the survival of human beings on this earth - are
the ones exploited and abused the most. All nations talk about women
empowerment; isn’t securing the dignity of women the first step in ensuring
them a life worth living?
These are
not just facts - these numbers represent lives that have been changed forever
and souls that have been scarred for life. We also need to keep in mind that
these numbers do not even begin to explain the extent of this brutality for
this crime goes unreported. Victims of human trafficking face all sorts of
horrors and when they are rescued, they are so broken that they don’t have it
in them to speak up - they are stripped of their dignity and they lose all hope
in mankind. The victims that are rescued never truly escape. The horrors they
faced haunt them forever. They may heal their bodies, but are never able to
heal their souls and eventually, they lose all desire to live. The harsh reality
is that these victims committed no crime to have suffered so terribly, and yet
are punished by a life of misery while the exploiters go unharmed. Some are
sent to prison, but a life in prison is no comparison to what the victims have
suffered.
Human trafficking
is a crime that has to be uprooted completely. Stopping it before it begins is
the only form of justice there is. Once someone is trapped, it is really hard
to escape internally or externally, and there is no penance for this brutal and
inhumane crime. Every human being has the universal right to be treated with
dignity and to not be held in slavery. Shockingly, these victims may be just
down the road from your house, you may pass them every day on your way to the
office - and yet no one notices their suffering. If only we were more
observant, we could save the lives of millions…
Aren’t the lives of millions of innocent people
worth fighting for? Aren’t the lives of millions of women worth fighting for?
Aren’t the lives of millions of pure souls worth fighting for? It is time to
wake up, see the suffering of all people and fight against the injustice faced
in the most brutal and inhumane forms by human trafficking victims…
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