“Defeating human trafficking is a great moral calling of our time.”

–Condoleeza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State and current director of Stanford’s Hoover Institution

We’re living in a pandemic. No, not a viral pandemic. Actually, something more sinister–the pandemic of human trafficking. No less a person than Pope Francis has aptly referred to it as a “scourge.”

Human trafficking is defined as a crime in which victims are exploited and traffickers profit at the expense of adults or children by compelling them to engage in commercial sex or perform labor. This modern-day form of enslavement numbers in the tens of millions.

It is such a problem that it’s believed to far exceed the number of victims of what we traditionally think of as human slavery. In 1863, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves in full view of that despicable human condition. “Under the radar” slavery continued and still exists today.

Trafficking is a problem internationally and domestically–it’s not just happening in third-world countries in Africa, South America, or with the lowest caste of people in India; it’s occurring everywhere, including the U.S. In fact, the U.S. ranks as one of the countries with the highest rates of trafficking. We can’t turn a blind eye to the problem, because it’s literally in our neighborhoods.

The vast majority of trafficking is in the sex trade, with women and children as the most likely victims. Some people are born into trafficking, some are sold into it, and some choose it when life offers them no better option. Just take a moment to think about that level of desperation.

A smaller percentage is the labor trafficking of children and adults. Children are forced to work rather than attend school. They have no means of education and little chance of a successful escape from their condition. The odds are great they’ll never achieve the potential for happiness all children deserve.

Labor-trafficked adults are either hoodwinked into what they think is gainful employment or kidnapped, taken away from their home country, and forced to work. Think about the need for manual laborers when a hurricane rips through states and causes massive destruction. Contractors don’t care about, and apparently don’t always check, the credentials of the people they hire. They want warm bodies with strong backs.

So, why don’t those who are enslaved simply escape? Because they’re threatened. The traffickers know the locations of their families and they threaten to enslave or kill their loved ones if they try to run away or go to the authorities. These folks are trapped in servitude, with no recourse but to do as they’re told.

Anyone reading this blog is almost certain to be spared from the ravages of international human trafficking. But here’s where it gets personal: a trafficker could be in your child’s bedroom. If your child has a screen device, he or she is vulnerable to the influence of perpetrators on the dark web. Add this fact to the list of reasons screen devices can be harmful for our kids.

I won’t bore you with statistics, but they’re sobering. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, from 2011 to 2021, the number of individuals referred to and prosecuted by U.S. attorneys for trafficking more than doubled, and the number of convictions almost doubled. This pandemic is by no means under control.

Could you spot a perpetrator of such vile behavior? A 2021 U.S. report on human traffickers suggests this profile: a white male, between the ages of 25 and 50, who’s a U.S. citizen with no prior convictions. In other words, it could be any one of millions who fit that bill–the man in line at your coffee shop, the guy in the cubicle next to yours at work, or maybe your next-door neighbor.

The good news? While we individually can’t do much for the greater problem of trafficking, we can shield our children from online vulnerability by simple parental oversight. If a parent’s number one job is to protect his or her children, what could be more important than monitoring the use of their screen devices, putting parental controls on phones, and taking away all screens before the child closes the bedroom door and goes to bed?

The boogeyman isn’t hiding in the closet or under the bed. He’s just a few clicks away on a child’s phone, tablet, or computer. It’s up to us to thwart him.