Drugs, guns, and people are the three most profitable products being smuggled over international borders. An estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people are secretly shipped every year, that’s not counting the illegal activity that is taking place within a country’s borders. Of these victims about 70% are female, 50% are children, and most are forced into prostitution. The US Government approximates 14,500 to 17,500 of these victims end up in the United States, in our backyards.

“Its time for the world to open its eyes to this form of modern slavery,” said Antonio Mario Acosta, United Nations Executive Director on Drugs and Crime (Human Trafficking Summit 2008).

Southern California has proven to be home for many slaves due to our close relation to Mexico. Just this month, three San Diego men have been thrown in jail on accusations that they took a 14-year-old girl with intentions of selling her online. Allegedly, these men offered the girl a ride, which she accepted. They then took her to an Oceanside motel, stripped her of all her clothes, and took naked photos with the intent if pimping her out on Craigslist. She was thankfully able to escape after the men fell asleep. She called the police from a nearby 7-11.

Human slavery is greater now than it ever was and it is growing. It is happening all over the globe and it is increasingly hard to catch. The U.S. government has been taking legal action since 2005; enacting laws and throwing money at the problem, but it is not going to stop until a united movement occurs.

Victims are continually being either kidnapped or lured with promises of a better life or a job opportunity. Most would think when a victim of human trafficking is rescued from the perils of a young life of forced prostitution, that they would spill all the beans and point fingers.

However, these people are often enticed to stay with false promises and methamphetamine, coupled with threats that their families will be killed if they leave.

Some detainees are brainwashed at as young an age as 5 into thinking that this is the only way life can be, that everyone on the outside is evil, and many of them are. Investigations have uncovered many police officers in Asian countries frequenting brothels where women are caged up as sex slaves.

It is important not to confuse sex slaves with willing prostitutes. Yes, some choose that lifestyle. Victims of human trafficking, however, should not be criminalized for a lifestyle they have been forced into.

It’s time for a movement. It’s time to get involved. The problem is so huge and so global that it would be easy to simply ignore the issue. However, some individuals have already taken a step in opening the public’s eye.

The movie Call and Response just hit theatres across the country for a limited time. This movie brutally displays the crimes being committed by human smugglers across the country. According to the movie’s statistics, in 2007 slave traders made more money than Google, Nike, and Starbucks.combined.

The movie incorporates supporting musicians such as Matisyahu, Talib Kweli, Cold War Kids, and Switchfoot. All of the proceeds of the movie have been going towards organizations directed towards eliminating human trafficking.

The point of this article is not to send you into a tailspin of dismay, or to tell you what to do, it is simply to open your eyes to the problems that happen right in front of you. These people, just like you and I, are being forced to have sex, to work in sweatshops, or even in restaurants for free. They are beaten into submission, raped, and worked to the bone. Sex slaves literally take clients constantly throughout the day. This is a global epidemic that needs to be stopped.

I encourage you to educate yourself on the subject. For more information please go to www.humantrafficking.org.