Men, Women and Children for Sale: The Dichotomy of Human Trafficking in the United States and Abroad

Student's Name

Elizabeth Kolbe, Minnesota State University, Mankato

1st Student's Major

Anthropology

1st Student's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Students' Professional Biography

Elizabeth Kolbe is a native of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, and graduated from Sleepy Eye Public High School in 2002. She is a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato and her expected graduation date is December of 2007. She is majoring in Anthropology with minors in Ethnic Studies and Spanish. In 2005, she studied abroad in her mother’s home country of Thailand for one year. There she was a volunteer English teacher in a small village in central Thailand. It was there that she first experienced extreme poverty and human trafficking. Since then, she has devoted much of her time try to understand human trafficking. She believes that together, we can end this global epidemic.

Mentor's Name

Paul Brown

Mentor's Email Address

paul.brown@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Anthropology

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Living in Thailand in 2005 opened my eyes to the real plight of exploited peoples around the world. I was able to experience first-hand the economic and social issues facing potential victims of human trafficking. According to Anti-Slavery International, there are an estimated 200 million people being held in slavery worldwide. Approximately 800,000 people per year are being trafficked across international borders and forced into slavery. Like most Americans, I believed this is a horrible problem facing only people of developing countries. Last year I heard Chong Kim describe her traumatizing experience of being trafficked within the United States. Over 45,000 people are trafficked into the United States yearly for exploitation. In this paper, I will discuss the issue of human trafficking, explain how trafficking affects different countries, including the United States, and address how a holistic, well-rounded approach is needed to stop this global problem on all fronts.

Recommended Citation

Kolbe, Elizabeth (2007) "Men, Women and Children for Sale: The Dichotomy of Human Trafficking in the United States and Abroad," Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato: Vol. 7, Article 8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56816/2378-6949.1095
Available at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/jur/vol7/iss1/8

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