When I say “human trafficking,” do you think specifically of trafficking in the sex industry?
For many years, I thought human trafficking had to with forcing women and children into prostitution. Since I don’t use prostitutes, I thought I couldn’t really do anything about the problem.
I was wrong on two counts. First, there are things you can do to fight human trafficking in the sex industry, including taking photos of your hotel room.
But I was also wrong about what “human trafficking” means. Human trafficking isn’t confined to the sex industry; you can find victims of trafficking in many different industries. In fact, 81% of slaves worldwide are forced to provide labor, which can include domestic work, agricultural work, manufacturing labor, and much more.
When I realized that some of the goods I purchased were produced by slave labor, I became a lot more interested in the issue of human trafficking.
Given my personal experience with learning more about human trafficking, I’m distressed by the number of organizations, particularly Christian organizations, that focus exclusively on sex trafficking. Perhaps I’m wrong about how many organizations have such a focus. But I’m not the only person who thinks that U.S. evangelicals focus more on sex trafficking than on labor trafficking.
To be fair, sex trafficking is more common in the United States than labor trafficking Organizations that focus on local human trafficking may focus on sex trafficking for that reason.
But an exclusive focus on sex trafficking reinforces the picture many people have of evangelicals: They’re people who are obsessed with sex while turning a blind eye to injustice. Anti-trafficking organizations would do well to increase their focus on labor trafficking. What if these organizations encouraged us to think about buying more fair-trade goods? What if they helped us realize that the people putting up siding in our neighborhoods could be victims of human trafficking?
Sex trafficking is a serious issue. We should by no means ignore it. But it’s time for more abolitionists to shine a light on labor trafficking. We can’t stop it if we don’t know about it.