This article by Dan Harris for ABC Nightline explains how easy it is in some areas of the world to acquire a child slave. He traveled to Haiti and after being there for ten hours had not one but three real opportunities to purchase another living human being, and a child at that. This happens in many places around the globe; Haiti is not the exception to the rule. In Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, one of the title characters, Oryx, is a former child slave from some unnamed part of the world. When her poverty-stricken family fell on hard times, she was sold and taken from her small village to a city. Oryx was first owned by “Uncle En” who had her sell flowers in the street to tourists. After his death, she was sold to a pornography company that required her to engage in sexual activity with grown men. While this may take place in a future dystopian society, stories like Oryx’s exist in the world right now.
Tameshnie, Deane. "Cross-Border Trafficking in Nepal and India." Human Rights Review 11.4 (2010): 491-513. Legal Collection. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=83401d69-6d2a-473b-8a21-2d7b0c985f1b%40sessionmgr15&vid=2&hid=24>.
This article for Human Rights Review by Deane Tameshnie focuses on the human trafficking of women and girls from Nepal into India. While it examines two specific places, the points the writer makes translate easily to not only other locals in our world, but into the world of Oryx and Crake. The writer first examines human trafficking as a global issue. He explains that most of the trafficking victims are female and sold into the sex trade and the smaller numbers of those that are male are boys sold into cheap labor. This point correlates directly with Oryx and Crake when Atwood says “Fewer boys were sold than girls… boys were more trouble and did not obey,” (121). Tameshnie ties this in not only with the connection between prostitution and slavery, but that boys are often more enfranchised than girls, especially in the patriarchal society of Nepal. Another point made in the article is that the open border between India and Nepal may be a major factor in the prevalence of human trafficking specific to these two nations. This ties in with how easy it is for Uncle En in Oryx and Crake to pass two soldiers guarding a gate. The experience reads like a border, but it is not specified in the novel. The soldiers comment “’You have a lot of nieces and nephews,’” (125), and they smile and let them pass with no trouble. The soldiers are clearly aware that the multitude of children Uncle En brings through is not his relations, but they cheerfully allow him through time and time again. The trade of human slaves from Nepal into India is mimicked closely in Oryx and Crake, and its realism is frightening.
Moser, Karen. "Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection: A Look at the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act." International Journal of Business and Social Science 3.6 (2012): 222-35. ProQuest Social Science Journals. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. <http://search.proquest.com/docview/924460679/fulltextPDF?accountid=11078>.
This article by Karen Moser relates the issue of human trafficking to the United States. She examines the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of the year 2000 and its effectiveness. She gives a brief history of human trafficking laws in the United States and point out the TVPA was the first piece of federal legislation to handle the issue. While domestic human trafficking has not yet been addressed in Oryx and Crake, this point relates to how though evidence of the slave trade is right in front of people’s noses, specifically on the internet, nothing seems to be being done about it. Human trafficking is a very secretive issue and is hard for the public to notice or take action. One of Moser’s most important examinations is of the language of the TVPA. She says that the language used to address cases of human trafficking is not uniform: that a domestic case may be called “child prostitution” while an immigrant in the same circumstances could be a “human trafficking victim”. She states that this correlates directly to whether victims are seen as victims of a crime or criminals themselves. A change in language could change whether someone is held accountable for their legal infractions even though he or she is a victim themselves. This distorted psychology associated with the victims ties in with Oryx’s view on herself in the novel. When Jimmy expresses disgust at Uncle En, Oryx defends him. She even states that she felt sorry for some of the pedophiles she and Uncle En caught in the act. Young children in these situations are brainwashed and how they view themselves and how others view them becomes distorted.
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