By Junior Oh
Traffickers are taking away the basic human rights such as the freedom to choose what to do, the freedom to move, and the freedom to do anything with one’s own body. Every human being is entitled to their own human rights. Traffickers are not letting these children have their own way of freedom. Children are being forced to do whatever the traffickers tell them to do, whether its sex trafficking or forced labor and so on so forth; the list goes on. Human rights give people the right to have their own privacy, the right to live, to speak, to believe what they want to believe, and the right to be recognized as a person. Afghanistan, holding one of the highest numbers of child trafficking shows that child trafficking is bad and should be stopped via organizations and the government’s help. Child trafficking is a horrible practice that traffickers use to try to make money out of children.
Child trafficking is a serious problem that people don’t really know about and it still remains today. Child trafficking is still an issue that has remained even since after the trafficking protocol was established in 2003. “The estimates vary widely, but it is likely that somewhere between 12 million and 27 million human beings are suffering in bondage around the world” where all types of human are being trapped and forced into labor (Clinton). If they try to run away they will be threatened with violence. “For decades, the problem went largely unnoticed”, and a large part of the population was ignorant to it (Clinton). Child trafficking is a horrible practice, and people should know it needs help and support in order to be stopped. People need to start putting effort into fixing these problems; its the reason as to why the trafficking victims protection act and trafficking protocol were established.
People should stay informed about child trafficking by “visiting the Polaris Project for valuable information and resources.” and “get involved volunteer or learn how you can help at Not For Sale campaign or Courtney’s House” (Gately). People also can start to “help to spread the word by posting or tweeting a link to this article on Facebook or Twitter” (Gately). In Afghanistan no one really knows where the children are being kidnapped or taken to, but trying to help organizations will help the kids be found. Trying to do this will only be one step of helping and you might think it’s a small effort, but a little help to organizations can change some people’s life. Try to spread the words that will help children from being trafficked. Not only should the organizations be working to protect children from being trafficked, but so should the government enforce laws against child trafficking, and try to help the victims.
The UN government has stated that they would be working to help the nation and the victims of child trafficking. Mr.Ban has said, “I urge the Government to ensure that adequate resources are allocated for effective implementation of the Action Plan, including introducing legislation aimed at criminalizing the recruitment of children in armed conflict and ensuring that no impunity is granted for grave violations against children under international law,” (Mr.Ban). There are already several generals working on stopping child trafficking by making Afghanistan and the UN sign an agreement, which it will be a way to prevent child trafficking. Not only that, but others are trying to be united as one, and they are trying to work together and not let traffickers pass by without authorization. Even though we are one, when we come together we are more than one. When we come together we can change the world in a better way where child trafficking can be stopped by the littlest of our help.
Afghanistan has one of the greatest child trafficking populations. Child trafficking is only hurting children who have been taken by traffickers away from their family. Even though the trafficking victims prevention act and the protocol were established, child trafficking is nowhere near ending.There are some organizations out there that are trying to help the Afghan children get out of trafficking, but a lot of support is still needed. People should start realizing how bad child trafficking is and should start helping by supporting organizations, and spreading the word to others. Helping organizations just a little does make a difference. Don’t think that a little money won’t help or solve anything. When people work together, nothing is impossible. A little money would become a lot of money, and with that money children will be saved from trafficking. Traffickers are taking children’s freedom of doing what they want to do. This should be stopped by the support of people around the world knowing that helping organizations would change the children’s life.
Works Cited
Gately, Roberty. “Op-Ed: Human-Trafficking Solutions Are Here If We Look for Them.”Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 11 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
“2012 Trafficking in Persons Report – Afghanistan.” UNHCR. United States Department of State, 19 June 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
“AFGHANISTAN: Persistent Violations of Children’s Rights.” CRIN. Child Rights International Network, 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
“Ban Calls for Greater Efforts to Tackle Child Rights Violations in Afghanistan.” UN News Center. UN, 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
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