Human TraffickingIf you watch movies, TV shows, and especially the news, it is almost certain that you have heard the term human trafficking. Human trafficking is the illegal transportation of people for sexual and labor purposes, which is essentially modern slavery. Anyone can be a victim of human trafficking, even you. Women and children are usually the main targets. Traffickers prefer to target people from poor households, ethnic minorities and illegal immigrants, as well as people with low education. These people work in homes, children are used in the army, and they also work in the fields and have other jobs. Many traffickers threaten their victims by beating them, raping them, torturing them, starving them, etc. Globally, the average cost of a slave is around $90, which is much lower than the $40,000 a few years ago. Although slavery is outlawed globally, an estimated 29 million people are unfortunately used as slaves today. Of those 29 million, 15,000 are bought and sold right here in the United States. Between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, and around 70 percent of these people are women, with the remainder being children. Europeans began the slave trade in Africa thousands of years ago. The Portuguese transported Africans to Portugal to use as slaves, and as the colonies grew, the need for slaves increased. This increase caused more countries to become involved in the use of slaves and the slave trade. These countries included, but were not limited to, Spain, North America, and France. In 1904, the International Agreement for the Suppression of the “White Slave Traffic” was signed. It protects women from sexual exploitation. This agreement was later amended to "traffic middle of paper ...Traffic to the United States." » Fox News Latino. http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/10/01/porous-mexican-border-allows-alarming-trend-in-human-trafficking-into-us/ (accessed April 23, 2014). “Human Trafficking” http://www.ice. gov/human-trafficking/ (accessed April 24, 2014). “Selected works of Susan W Tiefenbrun. » “GENDERCIDE AND THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF SEX TRAFFICKING IN CHINA” by Susan W. Tiefenbrun, et al. .bepress.com/susan_tiefenbrun/2/ (accessed April 22, 2014). “Educate Yourself. »: discover human trafficking http://www.humantraffickingsearch.net/educateyourself.html (accessed April 18, 2014). The figure: the average price of the slave has decreased. "The CNN Freedom Project Ending ModernDay Slavery RSS. http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/06/bales-average-price-of-slave-has-decreased/ (accessed April 20, 2014).