Due Monday, November 13 -- Topic Proposal

No one who has heard of human trafficking would deny that it is a major, global issue. Roughly 20.9 million people currently suffer through this form of modern-day slavery, whether through labor trafficking, where an individual is forced to work for little or no pay, or through sex trafficking, where an individual is coerced into sexual intercourse for little or no pay. Over one-quarter of victims are children, and more than half are females. As a female who recently was a child, these statistics are very alarming to me.

However, while many would share my concern, there are not as many people who believe human trafficking is a local problem, or even a national problem. In my speech, I will argue against this assumption, stating that human trafficking is a serious, local problem here in Iowa. I will focus on arguing how raising awareness of human trafficking in Iowa, and raising awareness of professional services that are trained to investigate and combat human trafficking, is the most time-efficient and cost-efficient method of eliminating human trafficking in Iowa. I will rely on news articles and statistics from various human trafficking websites to show its prevalence and to suggest methods of stopping such occurrences from happening.