Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Some people say that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. The truth is that there are more slaves in America in modern times, than during the Civil War. Modern slavery has a new name. That name is human trafficking.

Human trafficking is defined by the Trafficking Protocol of 2000 as "a criminal activity in which people are recruited, harboured, transported, bought, or kidnapped to serve an exploitative purpose, such as sexual slavery, forced labor, or child soldiery." As one can see, there are many different faces of human trafficking. The most prevalent cases of human trafficking that exist in America are sex trafficking cases. Most of these cases involve young girls involved in prostitution.

Contrary to popular belief, there are cases of trafficking that happen in the heartland of the United States. A lot of these cases are never brought to justice. However, in 2009, the U.S. Attorney's Office launched a sting operation called "Operation Guardian Angel" and there were several cases that took place in Kansas so it is obvious that a task force would be a need for a task force in Kansas.

Also in the same article, it was mentioned that there is no official task force like there are in other states in the U.S. where human trafficking is prevalent such as Colorado, California, Florida,Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. There are many arguments that can be made about population sizes of the cities in these states compared to Kansas, but I can counter each argument with Craigslist Trafficking that happens all over Kansas and the long stretch of I-70 that runs through Kansas. Also, since the overall population of Kansas is low, Kansas is arguably a terrific place for human trafficking because of the remoteness of the state.

There should be a task force in Kansas. Where is a more perfect place to start a task force than Manhattan, KS? We have four student organizations at Kansas State University who are active in the movement. We have over 25 individuals dedicated to the issue and professors who have done research on trafficking on a local, national, and global level. This petition will prove that the community wants Kansas to get involved in ending the most hideous of crimes committed in the world.

Another reason you should care: All of us, even Kansans, contribute to human trafficking by buying consumer goods that are made by underpaid workers who are often maltreated. Most of the time these workers are children.

Most importantly and the reason you all should care: We had a student at Kansas State University who was kidnapped, gang-raped, and trafficked at Fort Riley. I think that this alone should warrant a prevention movement.

The task force would provide prevention educational programs, research on the issue, awareness event-planning, community action and outreach, and it would provide jobs for the community. There are many benefits for launching something like this in our town!

Please help us join the fight and show that Kansas cares!

http://humantrafficking.change.org/petitions/view/start_a_task_force_for_human_trafficking_in_kansas_-_manhattan#

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