By: Wesley J. Smith – nationalreview.com – December 30, 2017

No human being should ever be treated as an object.

Human exceptionalism holds that every one of us is inherently equal, both in moral value, and properly, under the law.

Or to put it another way, no human being should ever be treated as an object, only and always a subject.

Which is why slavery and human trafficking are intrinsic evils that we should strive to eradicate from the face of the earth. But that won’t be done so long as we pay scant attention to the continuing crisis of human bondage in the modern world.

So, I applaud President Trump for declaring January 2018 to be, ”National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.” From the POTUS-signed decree:

During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we recommit ourselves to eradicating the evil of enslavement.  Human trafficking is a modern form of the oldest and most barbaric type of exploitation.  It has no place in our world.  This month we do not simply reflect on this appalling reality.  We also pledge to do all in our power to end the horrific practice of human trafficking that plagues innocent victims around the world.

There’s much more, including policy preventatives the administration has already put in place.

My late good friend and Discovery Institute colleague, John R. Miller, was W’s State Department ambassador on the issue. I once asked John what was the worst thing he saw during his years of service in that cause. He told me, “Children kept in hanging bamboo cages.”

This excerpt, from a piece John wrote for the Wilson Quarterly in 2008, illustrate the utter wickedness of human trafficking in the modern world:

In Bangkok, I met a teenager named Lord at a Catholic shelter. She told me that her parents in the hills of Laos had sold her at the age of 11 to a woman who promised to educate her. She was then resold to a Bangkok embroidery factory, where she was forced to sew 14 hours a day without pay.

When Lord protested the first time, she was beaten; the second time, she was shot in the face with a BB gun. She was locked in a closet; her captors poured industrial chemicals on her face. Bars across windows and doors kept Lord and other girls from leaving. They were finally rescued in a government ­raid.

Brrr!

Let us hope that Trump isn’t all decree and no further action. But good on him for calling attention to the crisis. This is an evil that stains the world.

Source: National Slavery & Human Trafficking Prevention Month | National Review