Do you think that human trafficking and other forms of slavery that exist today are the result of a flawed justice system or of the culture of the societies in which they are present? Or both? Or neither?
Friday, November 22, 2013
3 Women rescued after having been held as slaves for 30 years
In London, three women were recently rescued from a house in which they had been held against their will as slaves for thirty years. One of the women, who is thirty years old, had been living there her entire life. They were described as being "highly traumatized" and were taken to "a safe place." Officials reported that they had "never seen anything of this magnitude before." This video and article describe the situation, which is being updated frequently as new information surfaces.
Do you think that human trafficking and other forms of slavery that exist today are the result of a flawed justice system or of the culture of the societies in which they are present? Or both? Or neither?
Do you think that human trafficking and other forms of slavery that exist today are the result of a flawed justice system or of the culture of the societies in which they are present? Or both? Or neither?
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Here is an article that was published yesterday with a bit more information about the situation:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25059602
I think that one of the most interesting aspects of this story is this idea of ‘invisible handcuffs.’ Though they did not believe that they were being forcibly held inside the house, authorities also believe that the couple was using some sort of tactic in order to make the women feel unsure about leaving. Though many of us would like to say that if we were in this situation, we would do absolutely anything to get out of being held in slavery, this is also an underestimate of the power that other can have over us. Through physical and emotional manipulation, this seemingly normal couple was able to keep 3 women in slavery for an exceedingly long period of time. I think the best question for us to think about now is how to stop this from happening again in the future. There are many stories of people unknowingly keeping people in slavery and it is horribly disconcerting since this is a brute violation of our basic human rights.
ReplyDeleteStatistically the victims of human trafficking tend to be women and children, especially poor women and children. Worldwide power structures and dynamics definitely seem to be reflected in who is most at risk for being abducted or trafficked.
ReplyDeleteRelated to sex trafficking - I think in general there's a lack of sympathy for individual's involved in prostitution, that, for most people, doesn't take into account the circumstances that led those individuals to be there. Additionally, there's a lot of evidence of government and military involvement with sex workers.
Here's a New York Times Article on the subject called, "Ex-Prostitutes Say South Korea and U.S. Enabled Sex Trade Near Bases"
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/world/asia/08korea.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0