JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas —
With more than an estimated 21 million victims in modern-day slavery worldwide and an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 new victims each year, human trafficking is a problem that has plagued humanity throughout its existence.
From the indentured servants to today’s sex industry, human history is full of heinous examples of humans enslaving humans.
The Trafficking Victim Protection Act defines trafficking in persons as the use of force, fraud or coercion to compel a person to provide labor or services or commercial sex.
The crime can run the gamut of exploitation, and includes elements of recruiting, harboring, transportation, providing or obtaining a person for the purpose of exploitation.
The three most common forms of trafficking are labor trafficking, sex trafficking and child soldiering. The Department of Defense Combating Trafficking in Persons program is a program focused on the eradication of Trafficking in Persons within the Department of Defense structure, both domestically and overseas.
The DOD is concerned with human trafficking not only because it is illegal, but also because trafficking in persons is dangerous to our troops. The job of the Department of Defense is to protect the security of our country. Combating trafficking in persons serves as an essential line of defense in protecting the United States.
To report human trafficking, call the DOD Inspector General hotline at 800-424-9098 or click on http://www.dodig.mil/hotline/hotlinecomplaint.html.
To contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, call 888-373-7888 or click on http://www.state.gov/j/tip/id/domestic/index.html.
For more information locally, call 652-5727.