Are you always aware of your surroundings? Do you ever think about what life would be like if you were kidnapped? Slavery is still a harsh global reality for too many victims. What we don't realize is that slavery isn't just a piece of history we read about in textbooks. Rather, a realistic element of the current events of our world. The threat of human trafficking endangers citizens of all countries. Victims of modern slavery include a diverse group of men, women and children of all ages and social classes. These people are trafficked, like drugs, across multiple borders and lead a life of sexual exploitation, hard labor and severe mental and verbal abuse. Awareness is key to preventing human trafficking. The ability to recognise, prevent and prosecute perpetrators will help in the fight against human trafficking. Statistical data shows the reality that the threat of human trafficking imposes on our freedom. According to the 2010 Human Trafficking Report published by the US Department of State, 1.8 out of 1,000 citizens worldwide are currently enslaved as a result of human trafficking (7), of which approximately 56% are by women (34). An estimated 12.3 million adults and children are currently enslaved in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution worldwide (7). Additionally, the U.S. Department of Justice's 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report published that “approximately 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders” each year, excluding the millions of victims of trafficking within their own country ( 8). In November 2000, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons marked the crime with the “first internationally agreed definition of trafficking” (Anker 5...... half of the document ......ns Convention against Transitional Measures Organized Crime and related protocols, United Nations, New York, 2004. United States Department of State. Trafficking in Persons Report, 7th ed. Washington GPO, 2007.< http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/82902.pdf>U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report, 10th ed. Zimmerman, Cathy, Mazeda Hossain, Kate Yun, Brenda Roche, Linda Morison and Charlotte Watts Stolen Smiles: A summary report on the physical and psychological health consequences of trafficked women and adolescents in Europe [case summary]. The London School of Hygeine & Tropical Medicine, 2008. Web.< http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/php/ghd/docs/stolensmiles. pdf>