Jan 25, 2016 3 min read

January is Weight Loss Awareness Month, which is not at all a surprise given the number of folks flooding into fitness centers and spending their Christmas cash on treadmills, rowers, ellipticals and exercise bikes. It’s also National Mentoring Month and National Codependency Awareness Month.

Not to downplay the necessity of weight loss, the value of mentors or the dysfunction that flourishes in codependent relationships, January is also Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, an issue more serious and urgent than any of the other problems being highlighted this month.

It’s comforting to believe human trafficking is something that happens in other parts of the world, usually in those less-developed locales Americans have a difficult time finding on a map and would never visit. But human trafficking is a practice, in all its abhorrence, occurring in our country, in our state and perhaps not too far from our own doorsteps.

The Global Slavery Index estimates in 2014 more than 35 million people around the world were being trafficked for either sex or labor slavery. The U.S. State Department estimates that 17,000 of them were in the United States, though other organizations suggest a higher number. Closer to home, there were 113 cases reported in Pennsylvania in 2014, and the commonwealth is considered a hub for human trafficking because of its proximity to the Northeast.

In a nutshell, human trafficking forces the vulnerable, whether they are economically dispossessed, undocumented immigrants, underage runaways or any other defenseless class of people, into prostitution or cruel, backbreaking labor for which they receive no compensation. Some are even kidnapped or drugged. Their servitude is accompanied by vicious coercion, intimidation, blackmail or manipulation.

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center describes the practice as “a market-driven criminal industry that is based on the principles of supply and demand” and “is fueled by a demand for cheap labor, services and for commercial sex.” Many traffickers believe they can get away with their crimes because law enforcement officials are often unaware that human trafficking is happening because they are not trained to spot it, and communities are frequently oblivious to its presence. Given the sizable payoff that comes to the exploiters of other human beings, many are more than willing to take the risks that come with their repellant trade. All told, human trafficking generates $32 billion around the world.

Fortunately, laws in Pennsylvania were recently strengthened to combat human trafficking, with penalties being made more harsh for traffickers and notification requirements being put in place at bars, truck stops or restaurants that would let people know they can get help if they are human-trafficking victims. Daylin Leach, a state senator from suburban Philadelphia, is pushing a bill that would prevent criminal prosecution of girls under age 18 who are arrested for prostitution. Leach argues, because they are underage, the girls are likely not selling themselves voluntarily, or, at the very least, lack the capacity to fully comprehend the implications of their actions. Instead, a greater emphasis would be placed on rehabilitation.

Human trafficking ranks second only to drug trafficking in its ubiquity around the world. Given the scope of the problem, combating it will require resources and vigilance. We shouldn’t be shy about supplying either.