Blog
Published on August 28, 2014
By Robyn Barnard
In a recent documentary, which earned her the highest award presented by the Girl Scouts, Rebecca Pober Citrin explores the realities of the growing human trafficking criminal enterprise.
Citrin wanted to address human trafficking in her project because, in her words, “ignorance on this issue fuels it.” The documentary includes interviews with victims, FBI and IRS agents, and organizations that provide assistance to victims in Alabama, Cirtrin’s home state. Citrin has remarked that those who watch the documentary are often shocked that human trafficking is prevalent in the United States and Alabama.
A key point made by the documentary is that as long as there is a market for trafficked humans, with huge profits to be reaped by the traffickers and low accompanying risk, the industry will continue to thrive and countless more people will be enslaved. Human trafficking is a business that operates on “supply and demand.” Tanya Halford, the founder of StopSexExploitation.Com, reminds viewers that “trafficking is no respecter of persons, no respecter of socio-economic class, of gender, or of race…” The sole priority for traffickers is making money.
While Citrin’s documentary focuses on the trafficking of women for sexual enslavement, 68 percent of the 21 million worldwide trafficking victims are in fact trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. We must continue to raise awareness of all instances of human trafficking and to bring to justice those who enslave millions of victims every year.
