The issue is human trafficking. Human trafficking is, "Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation." ("Human Trafficking", 2014). Although human trafficking came before slavery, human trafficking IS a form of slavery, and has transformed into sexual slavery.
I chose this issue for my Fire Project because I believe the world views women as objects and because of that, women get mistreated. I feel passionate about this issue because I am a woman myself and I feel that just because of our gender, women are more vulnerable to human trafficking which should not be the case. Woman have as much power as men do in this world. Not just because of our gender, should women be the main targets for human trafficking. My issue matters because no one in the world should be sold or even treated as an object. Everyone should have equal rights, not mattering their gender. Through this project, I hope to empower women to see that they have as much power as men and that nothing is impossible. Women can have dreams and achieve them just like men do. This issue is so important to me because I feel that everyone, no mattering what gender they are, should have an equal opportunity to reach their personal beliefs of the American Dream and if human trafficking exists, those dreams are taken away. With women’s rights, I have had many, but small encounters. For example, in gym class, when it comes to picking teams to play a sport and it is a boy and girl group, the boys are most likely to get picked first because they are seen as “naturally” athletic. The girls, like me, are usually picked last because they think that girl do no have the same ability in athletics as boys do. Women’s rights are important all over the world. With human trafficking, I have not had encounters at all. All over the world, human trafficking is not acceptable. The fact that it affects women more, makes it a global issue that matters to everyone because human trafficking can happen anywhere, at any time.
THESIS STATEMENT
Human trafficking for sex exploitation is often thought as a problem in the third world; however, statistics prove that it is more prevalent in economically developed countries.