Historical Context
Human trafficking first dates back to the 1400's when the plantation colonies were developing which justified the Europeans need for slaves. According to Yong (2011), "The 1400's marked the start of European slave trading in Africa with the Portuguese transporting people from Africa to Portugal and using them as slaves." This illustrates how the very first cases of human trafficking were in the forms of slavery. Furthermore, in 1562, the British joined in the slave trade in Africa and throughout the 1600's, other countries became more involved in the slave trade which eventually spread human trafficking throughout the world. Society continued to expand their hand in justice seen through changes in international and peace policies.
In 1904, the International Agreement for the Suppression of "White Slave Traffic" was signed. The agreement prevented white woman from being part of "White Slave Trafficking." Yong in "Timeline of Human Trafficking" describes how "The Suppression of White Slave Traffic" was changed to "traffic in women and children" so that everyone was included with no discrimination to race (2011). This recognized that everyone, including children of both genders, were victims of human trafficking. Although the buying and selling of human beings was not considered slavery until the 1600's, human trafficking was already occurring by using people for cheap labor. According to Young (2011), "During WWII, Japan had set up a horrifying and outrageous system where women all across Asia were forced into sexual slavery." Due to public unrest, provisions were made in the trafficking of human bodies. In 1995, the United Nations held the Fourth World Conference to discuss acts of violence against women and human trafficking was recognized as one. They then decided to take further actions such as enforcing international conventions on trafficking and human slavery and setting up effective law enforcement and institutions who could work to eliminate trafficking both nationally and internationally. (Yong, "Timeline of Human Trafficking", 2011). According to the U.S State Department approximately 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked annually, most of these victims are under the age of 18 (U.S Department of State, 2005). In economically developed countries, human slavery has transitioned into sexual exploitation.