Welcome to a special edition of the Deep Dives Research Challenge. Up until now the challenges have focused on a specific archive and have been left wide-open for researchers to find their topics of interest. For this edition, we ask all contributors to direct their research towards the growing epidemic of human trafficking.
While the direction is narrowed to a single topic, the scope remains vast as human trafficking is an international problem with many dimensions. In addition, this challenge is not primarily focused on any particular archive and participants are encouraged to include any of the archives covered in previous editions along with their own sources.
Human trafficking encompasses the displacement of people through coercion, fraud and force. Particular areas of concern involve:
Sex Trafficking
Child Sex Trafficking
Child Soldiers
Organ Harvesting
Forced Labor
Immigration
Because human trafficking is such a wide ranging subject you can be sure there will be future deep dives on this topic. In future instalments, we'll narrow the scope to target a specific region or host a challenge on one of the above classifications.
Human Trafficking | Modern Day Slavery
Human Trafficking is now the third largest criminal enterprise in the world behind the drug trade and the illegal arms industry. It's now the fastest growing illicit industry connected to organized crime.
It's estimated that human trafficking generates upwards of $150 billion annually:
Sex Trafficking $99 Billion
Forced Labor $51 Billion
Source: DoD 2016 Source: Humantraffickingcenter.org
Determining the exact numbers of people who are trafficked worldwide is a daunting task and the numbers vary depending on the source. However, there's little doubt that human trafficking growing at an alarming rate and so too are the profits for smugglers and crime syndicates the world over.
Sources
We're certain that Wikileaks will be included in many searches and we'd like to offer you some assistance to get you started.
Of course, entering "Human Trafficking" into the search bar will produce a very large number of results. Therefore, we'd like to suggest filtering your searches by narrowing the time frame year/month/day, by adding keywords (ex: country of focus), or eliminating certain archives if they're not relevant to your search. https://wikileaks.org/plusd/?qproject[]=ps&qproject[]=cg&qproject[]=cc&qproject[]=fp&qproject[]=ee&q=&qftags=KTIP#result
Trafficking in Persons Reports | TIP Reports
Pro-Tip: US government documents on human trafficking use the term "TIP reports" that are used to compile information on a wide range of countries which includes particular details on the issues face by each nation.
The US State Department also publishes an annual report on Trafficking in Persons which highlight the current issues, a 3-tier rating system, nations/regions of concern, and measures being taken in an effort to combat trafficking worldwide. The link below includes an index of State Department TIP reports from 2001-2018. https://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/
Global Slavery Index
Another useful link that provides information on specific regions and nations is the global slavery index. https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/ Vulnerability Percentage
These are just a few of the many resources available to researchers but there are many more. Feel free to leave any useful links in the comments.
Select a topic (sex trafficking, organ harvesting/ child trafficking / forced labor / immigration / etc) or focus on a region/country where human trafficking is prevalent
Search archives for documentation relating to human trafficking
Build a post around your findings
Provide additional sources to make your case and strengthen your position
Explain the significance of the issue and why it’s an important piece of news that should be communicated to the public.
Dive Deep, but remember to come up for air!
Rules
Help spread the word, resteem this post
Limited to 1 contest entry per account
Submissions must be made in a separate post (not in the comments)
Submissions must be posted before the deadline (UTC -Monday, October 29th, 2018, 11:59 PM)
This research challenge is open for two weeks!
Use the lead tag “deepdives”
Your entry must include references to a document/documents found in the archives from previous editions of Deep Dives (Wikileaks/Cryptome/FBIVault/CIA)
Provide a link to the specific document or page
Make an attempt to keep your post concise and to the point
You may leave a link to your entry in the comments below
Please, do not plagiarize the work of others
Note: Longer entries with multiple links and references does not equate to higher quality. Clear and concise work with a handful of supporting sources is preferable.
Winners
Winners will be announced 48hrs after the submission deadline
The Winning Post Should
Meet the rules criteria
Well researched
Fully sourced
Clearly presented
Original Content (not widely reported on in the media)
Significance should be clearly articulated
3 Outstanding contributions will be acknowledged
Prizes
Liquid SBD (or STEEM) earned by the original contest post will make up the total rewards
Bonus @v4vapid & @ausbitbank upvotes and resteems for exceptional and/or original contributions
SP earned from challenge announcements and the winner’s announcements will remain in the community account @deepdives.
Contributions
Those that do not ‘win’ should not view their work and efforts as being wasted. All submissions are valuable and will be contributing to building a body of research on the blockchain. We hope that contributors support each other’s efforts wherever possible whether by sharing tips, links or through constructive feedback to their fellow researchers.
Good luck and happy digging!
Deep Dives Community
Deep Dives Aims
Promote original content
Promote investigative journalism
Promote focused and quality research
Encourage community engagement
Encourage collaboration and teamwork
Recognize and reward high quality original content
Over time, Deep Dives aims to build a repository of high quality research and original content preserved on the blockchain.
We hope you join us in building this unique resource.
It truly is a community effort and your exceptional contributions are what fuels this project.
@v4vapid & 
@ausbitbank upvotes and resteems for exceptional and/or original contributions 
@deepdives.