Human trafficking is best defined by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime as “an act of recruiting, transporting, transfering [sic], harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.”
It is a global issue as it is a human issue. Yet, according to Social Justice Minister Carl Sargeant being quoted by the BBC “authorities often do not recognise the scale of the problem and victims do not know where they can get help”.
Just as popular advertisement site Craigslist pulled it’s ‘censored’ label from sex ad areas today, as reported in the New York Times article entitled Craigslist Pulls ‘Censored’ Label From Sex Ads Area, there has been controversy over the role the site played in aiding traffickers and as Miller continues to write in the above article, “the battle has, for the most part, been about free speech and about the responsibilities Craigslist has to fight sex trafficking and other sex crimes.”
The Examiner also released an article today linking human trafficking abuse stories and updates. As illustrated by this article, human trafficking is not limited to a certain region yet people are doing something about this criminal activity. Last year the Blueheart Campaign was launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and by educating generations today we can better secure their safety tomorrow.
- Locke’s Book on Education, Image via Wikipedia
According to the 2010 Handbook published by the University of Toronto Students’ Union, “after tuition fees were eliminated in Ireland, the [their] economy was the strongest in the European Union for 5 years in a row.” It is important to realize that student loans can motivate young adolescents to enter higher education. However, it is also important to understand that “one in four university bachelor grads report difficulties making student loan payments,” according to the U of T handbook. Ultimately higher education prepares the next generation for the issues and problems that have confronted those generations before. Hence it seems only reasonable that we, as humans, should make it more accessible to those who otherwise would not have entered a University or College. Not every parent can afford to pay for their children’s education, which is partially why student loans exist in the first place. Not only do they teach teenagers about financial responsibility, but they also reward them for their academic achievements and integrity, without which, many of the brightest minds on this planet simply would be lost in a void. That, however is not completely true, as Universities and Colleges alike have not always been in existence. When you refer civilizations in the past, not all of them had buildings designed for numerous students to enter it’s premises and learn. What possible happened instead was one-on-one teaching or small classes involving those seeking to spread knowledge and those interested in receiving it. So let me reword that prior sentence by saying that without student loans, those otherwise financially not able to afford university or college, would have to seek elsewhere to expand their education and hopefully earn a decent living. At the end of the day, education is essential for the betterment of not only a nation, but for the betterment of it’s people. What kind of education, and the contents of the lesson plans being taught, are up for another debate, but it is vital to visualize a future where education is available to all, than visualize a future where education was a thing of the past.
