“Numbers certainly do not paint a bright picture of top states for human trafficking in 2018. Human trafficking in these states is a very serious problem the US authorities certainly need to find a better ways to deal with. While the history of the United States teaches us that slavery was abolished in 1865, I am inclined to think that we have simply invented a new term for it. Term human trafficking is nowadays used to denote the same thing slavery denotes: the gravest violation of person’s fundamental rights and dehumanization of an individual. It implies an act that strips an individual of their freedom, subjugating them to the will of others completely. I do not intend to diminish other human rights abuses which we witness and experience every now and then by saying that human trafficking is the worst form of human rights abuse present nowadays.”

The above is an excerpt from an article on 12 top states for human trafficking in 2018 published by Insider Monkey some days . Human trafficking is an issue no country is immune to, the United States being no exception. It is undoubtedly one of the gravest violations of human rights nowadays. To indicate what a serious issue this has become, in 2000 the United Nations have adopted a legal document that aims at eradicating human trafficking worldwide. The United States have a sound legal framework that addresses the issue and provides a means to tackle it, The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, which was signed by three presidents, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. The said legal document is in accordance with international standards and norms. However, despite having a well thought out framework for combating human trafficking, numbers of human trafficking victims in certain states are staggering. The statistical data on human trafficking in 2017 show that there has to be a more serious approach to the issue or the matter will become much worse in 2018.