Drea Knufken
Human trafficking could be the ultimate organized crime. Essentially, people are tricked or stolen away from their homes and turned into slaves. Girls and women become prostitutes, children are trafficked for adoptions purposes, still others are forced into bondage as laborers.
Human trafficking is worth a relatively paltry $32 billion today, but it’s the fastest growing organized crime in the world. At least 27 million people around the world were slaves in 2008, according to American Public Radio. That number will only go up. In Europe and North America, sex trafficking alone generated as much as $9 billion in 2004. When you consider the low overhead involved, human trafficking could be one of the most profitable businesses around.
Drea Knufken is a freelance writer, editor, ghostwriter and content strategist. Her work has appeared in national publications including WIRED, Computerworld, National Geographic, Minyanville, Backpacker Magazine and others. For more information, please visit www.DreaKnufken.com. You can also find Drea via her blog, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
