Slavery: Still a Thing?

I've gone most of my life thinking slave trade was something of the past; making the common mistake that it ended in the late 1800's, with the end of the Civil War. But human trafficking is a very real, very prosperous and very horrific enterprise. CNN's, Bradley Myles, reports, "The U.N. estimated it to be a $32 billion a year industry in 2005, and many in the anti-trafficking field believe that number is outdated and too low" (Myles). picture...

Number of victims of forced labor by region

As you can see the Asia/Pacific region has more forced laborers than all the other regions combined. Nearly four times as many in comparison to the second highest region, Africa. Why is this? After a little research, I found out that Asia has the highest agricultural export profit at $54.4 billion, next to the United State's $132 billion. And in a competitive global market, Governments are willing to do whatever it takes to stay ahead. North Korea, China and Burma are notable examples of State forced labor. This labor is not present just in sweat shops and farms; but also in large scale prostitution rings, where human trafficking is a common way to get prostitutes. This has to stop, and we can help by donating; and by not purchasing cheaper, foreign knock off items, clothes, shoes, etc.