Last Wednesday, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) launched a report focusing on a worldwide issue that the international community must pay more attention to: human trafficking. It is a horrific practice that essentially turns men, women and children into slaves; they are coerced, forced or tricked for sexual exploitation or labor.

“A lot of those who are trafficked are looking for work and a better life,” said Jennifer Chan, program officer for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s End Trafficking Project. “Help needs to be available so they are not lured by the false promises of traffickers.”

Human trafficking happens all over the world, including the United States, and can occur within the areas of prostitution, pornography, domestic servitude, factory work and migrant faming.

In the United States, the Super Bowl is one of the largest causes of sex trafficking.

According to Forbes, 10,000 prostitutes were taken to Miami during the 2010 Super Bowl and in 2009 police made 133 arrests for underage prostitution in Dallas.

The U.S. Department of Justice says that the average prostitute begins working between the ages of 12 and 14.

According to the Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, “many governments are still in denial.” He also stated that despite an increase in convictions for human trafficking, there is a fear the problem is getting worse.

Both national and international organizations such as UNICEF, Polaris Project, Free the Slaves, Not For Sale and the Somaly Mam Foundation are strongly dedicated to eliminating the problem. Ending trafficking, however, is no easy task; it requires engaging with families and communities to increase awareness as well as working with political leaders to make sure victims are being helped.

“UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive,” said Chan. “Strengthening systems and education, providing sustainable livelihoods and preventing discrimination are all ways to reduce factors that put families at risk in the first place.”

To fight trafficking, it is also crucial for nations and states to implement their own laws. The best way for these laws to be effective is for them to focus on prevention, protection and prosecution. They constantly need to be improved, strengthened and properly enforced by courts and law enforcement.

“Human trafficking rates are always changing,” said Chan. “Laws need to be changed so that they are representing the current nature of the crime.”

In the United States, actions against human trafficking are being taken both on the federal and state levels.

In the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Louisiana state police carried out an operation that lead to 85 arrests.

Last month, President Obama proclaimed January 2013 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month calling it “our pledge to erase modern forms of slavery from the face of this earth.”

In 2000, the first comprehensive U.S. legislation to address human trafficking, called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, was signed by President Clinton.

Despite expiring in 2011 and being reauthorized in previous years, the legislation is in the process of being reviewed in the House.

“It is very unfamiliar for people to think of trafficking here as opposed to internationally,” said Jaclyn Houston, a graduate student at DePaul researching the misconceptions and public perceptions of sex trafficking of women and girls. “There is a misunderstanding of the complexity and how someone got into their circumstances. When someone is tricked or groomed for this work, is it really their choice to be working in a certain industry?”

The fight to end human trafficking is most effective when addressed on a state and local level. In 2012, the Polaris Project rated Illinois along with 20 other states as doing well in passing the most significant laws.

These include addressing both labor and sex trafficking, protecting minors as well as lowering the burden for them to show proof of being trafficked, providing victim assistance and allowing victims to seek civil damages from their traffickers.

Many are also actively working in the Chicago community, where, according to the Polaris Project, a “minimum number of 16,000 women and girls are involved in prostitution activities during any given year.” Additionally, 62 percent of a sample group of these women and girls performed their first commercial sex act before the age of 18.

“I think a lot of people do not want to believe it happens in Chicago, but it’s actually huge in Chicago,” said Houston. “It just takes on a different form than it does internationally.”