On average, human trafficking grosses $150 billion a year just in the United States (ILO).3 billion each year worldwide (Hepburn and Simon 2). The difference in these two numbers is that the first involves the amount of money earned from the services provided by the people purchased, while the second is specifically the sale of people. What these numbers mean, is that the human trafficking business is very prevalent in the world. The two biggest sections of human trafficking are the labor trade and sex exploitation. Human trafficking is a problem and it is a worldwide problem. The amount of people being trafficked each year is around 21 million people (ILO). Meanwhile, the amount of successful cases against human traffickers, remains incredibly low. The problem with human trafficking is that it is a hard business to identify and stop. In order to stop human trafficking, or at least put a dent in its profits, there are three things that need to be done. The first of those three is to create a better understanding of what human trafficking is. Next, a system needs to be developed to be able to identify human trafficking and stop trafficking situations. Lastly, post-trafficking victims need to be accommodated for by way of counseling and help attaining stable jobs/living situations.
Human trafficking is the big picture problem, but, the solution to human trafficking is also a problem because it has to remain realistic, while not being overly expensive. So, what can be done to stop or at least decrease the amount of human trafficking? It is highly unlikely that on solution will fit every different country or state, but, a general solution might be able to help identify and stop some human trafficking everywhere. There are a number of different situations around the world, the United States has immigration that skew the numbers or mask the problem of human trafficking (Hepburn and Simon 1).
