Each day, thousands of girls are kidnapped, transported to other nations and sold into slavery.
More often than not, that slavery isn't associated with traditional chores, like cleaning or cooking, but rather involve sexual actions, where these victims are turned into prostitutes or raped on a daily basis.
Although I have never known anyone whom has been affected by human trafficking, it's still a topic that I hope near and dear to my heart. Especially since we live in a nation where freedom for all is preached and on the most part, exists from west coast to east coast.
Knowing what I do about human trafficking, it hurts my heart to learn about 276 girls in Nigeria that were kidnapped from their boarding school by an Islamic extremist group called Boko Haram. (Below is a link to the article I read recently.)
Luckily, 50 girls were able to escape, but the remaining still remain captive. Below is a quote from one of the brave young women who risked her life in order to return to her family.
"Don't worry, we're soldiers," one 16-year-old girl recalls them saying. "Nothing is going to happen to you."-ABC News
Unfortunately, those men were not soldiers. Those men lied.
Once the young girls exited the building, they were surrounded by armed men and were forced to comply to their orders since they were outnumbered.
While it's shocking to some, this is an event (maybe not on this large of a scale) that occurs almost as often as human trafficking; there's a lot of political unrest in other nations where resources are scarce, ideologies run strong and education is on the back burner of society's priorities.
Last year, in AP World, we learned about the Rwandan genocide and how because of past events, their is political upheaval. Instantly, I connected the two events since both involved different ideologies that sparked extremist groups to form and try to impose their beliefs on others. Why? Because when the European nations first decided to colonize in Africa, they based their colonies on geographical square footage, many did not take into account the different tribes that lived in these areas.
As these colonies formed, many mother countries, such as Spain, decided to convert all of their colonists and natives within their proximity to Catholicism, forcing them to leave their traditions behind. However, during this same time, Islam began spreading across the world and eventually reached the colonies as well. Now, each area has people whom are Catholic, Islamic and countless other subgroups based on native roots. Oh, those people with different native roots? Well they all come from different tribes with different relationships to one another.
Unfortunately, some of the tribes group together have had bad experiences/feuds in the past that still continue to this day. Sometimes, those feuds are caused by the controlling nation who pick one tribe over another and make them the sole controllers of the government, like what happened in Rwanda, causing the two groups to naturally hate each other due to divide in the social classes and wealth.
Around the same time I learned all that information in school, I sat in on a Political Science class at Hofstra and discussed with two professors the effects religious beliefs have on society.
I came with the conclusion that many of the world's warfare is led by a disagreement between religious institutions, such as the Crusades, WWII, etc. However, it's not the institutions in themselves that are bad, it's the need for people to take their beliefs and impose them on others that is the problem. This also doesn't just occur with religion, but can be applied to any political policy.
Take the United States for example. It's main belief is that everyone deserves freedom and the right to follow what ever type of government or religion they choose. Although this seems innocent, with every solider that they are sending overseas, they become hypocritical. This is because they send soldiers into areas to stop rebel groups from imposing their beliefs on a nation, but in that same process, they impose their own beliefs of democracy. What if the people of that nation want freedom, but not democracy? What if they're okay under a monarchy?
No nation has a right to tell another nation what they're doing is wrong unless lives are being lost.
If in the process of stopping, say peaceful protestors in order to being a nation democracy, lives are lost, was it really worth imposing your belief on that nation?
Was it worth getting their blood on your hands? (hypothetical of course)
Although it may sound harsh, sometimes we need to back away from situations and accept that other groups of people have different ideals from ours.
We shouldn't impose our beliefs on others, but let others belief what they wish.
If humanity decided to adapt this principle before hand, maybe there wouldn't have been a Rwandan genocide and maybe those girls would have been able to finish their education.
It's events like this that make me want to make a difference in the world. Make me want to change it.
With this in mind, no person, no matter where they live, deserves to be taken from their homes, killed or persecuted solely based on the religion they practice, gender, or race.
We all live in the 21st century and have modern ideas. For the most part, I'm a strong believer in the principal that history repeats itself. However, if society stops remaining ignorant to the realities before us, maybe that wouldn't be the case.
We need to look into the future, not the past.
While the battle against human trafficking and the one between political and religious control is far from over, all we can do is Hope that people stand up, one at a time and demand action.
Action against one group of people forcing their beliefs on another.
Action against human trafficking/slavery.
Action to bring those 276 girls home.
It's only through the voices of the few that the many can stand up and make a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment