Predicting Social Change: Transforming Victims of Child Sex Trafficking in India and the United States

Abstract

Human trafficking is a huge global issue that is highly linked to issues of poverty, physical abuse, and psychological control, culminating in the buying and selling of human beings, or what we call "modern day slavery." For my Global Honors thesis, I applied a fairly optimistic philosophical human rights theory to an unimaginable human rights issue that is taking place all over the world. This paper focuses on domestic child sex trafficking in the U.S. and India along with the unique socioeconomic, political, and cultural factors that contributes to trafficking in these countries. I found that the international community, non-profits, NGOs, and individuals are all tackling this problem from many angles in unique ways that are largely based on empathy and a concern for fairness. In this way, social change is occurring.