Each year 800,000 human beings are bought
sold, or forced across the world's borders.
80% of this number are women
50% are children
Human trafficking is a 32 billion dollar industry.
The average cost of buying a slave today is $90.
The cost of a slave during the height of the trans-atlantic slave trade--
$40,000 in modern dollars.
$40,000 in modern dollars.
But these are just numbers, and numbers, after all, are imperfect indicators of the true human cost. How do you measure suffering? I don't have an answer to that. Maybe we can't measure these things, or understand slavery. After all, what does slavery mean to me, when I have never experienced it? Not much, really. But enough to care, at least enough, to want to do something.
And enough to keep the following in mind: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men [and women] to do nothing."
