and i totally agree with it concerning the topic he's talking about.
human trafficking is something that has recently hit really near and dear to my heart. it's just so wrong it kills me. how the heck can people do this sort of this? why? buying, selling, and trading young girls for sexual abuse? what on earth?!
okay, there's a little rant. hah. now here's some facts that i hope would wake some people up:
Supply and Demand The Effects minors. young children are being beaten and sexually abused really for no reason. here are some statistics: Trafficking in persons is modern-day slavery, involving victims who are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor or sexual exploitation. this whole thing kills me. and something else i don't get is this: no one seems to care. tons of people that i've talked to about this really seemed very apathetic. or just "oh that's sad" or "oh that's terrible" and leaving it at that. come on, ya'll! we need to do something about this! we can, really and truly! you don't have to have money or tons of time or ways to get places. you can help anywhere! you know, james 1:27 says this: 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. look after the orphans and widows. i love that verse. there is a sense of beauty about it that i just love and adore. there is always something to do. some way to help. it kills me that people don't know about the needs of the world. it kills me more that people know the needs and do nothing about it. you don't have to go on a missions trip to another country. there are things you can do in your community. heck, even in just your church. just find something that you are passionate about and act on it! like jan in the office said "there's always a million reasons not to do something". decide what's more important. your silly little needs or dying children. for a while i cared about it, but never really acted. thank God for sending me to Cornerstone. i saw a ton of people working for the glory of God there and how they did amazing things and i want to be a part of it. i feel a strong calling, i suppose. now i know that i can't make someone feel a "calling" from God that i do, but you should, as a bible-believing christian feel the need to do something. so go change your world! you really can! it's bigger than cold religion. it's bigger than life. love is the movement. love is the revolution. peace, cecelia.
The "demand" of the multi-billion dollar global sex industry puts children throughout the world at-risk of becoming the “supply.” Criminal gangs, pimps and pornographers seek to profit from this demand by enslaving and abusing children, preying on those made most vulnerable by poverty, lack of education, minority status, gender bias and homelessness.
Often, captors will threaten, beat and starve new recruits to condition them for the fate that awaits: sex with multiple customers every day. Eventually this abuse “breaks” the children. They learn to force a smile for the pedophiles, sex tourists and others that frequent their establishments.
Sexual exploitation and abuse have grave consequences on any person’s well being, especially a child’s. Unprotected sex, gang rapes, forced abortions and manipulation can cause severe psychological and physical damage, including HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases or conditions.
What is Child Trafficking?
According to the UN ODCCP Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, child trafficking is: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of deception, of the abuse of power or of position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
Most countries in the world are involved – they may be a source of vulnerable children, a place they pass through, or a destination for trafficked children. Unfortunately, even the United States plays it’s part when U.S. “sex tourists” visit countries like Thailand or Cambodia and have sex with children, including those trafficked into the sex industry.
Children who are desperately poor are especially at risk of being trafficked. Trafficked children may be exploited by being used in prostitution or pornography, and labor in domestic, factory or agricultural work. In some countries, they are forced to risk their lives as soldiers. Some action is being taken to directly address trafficking by governments and non-profit organizations, but much more needs to be done.
Where is the problem?
Every year at least 1.2 million children are estimated to be trafficked around the world and that number is growing. Child trafficking is not limited to developing countries; the U.S. and Europe deal with domestic trafficking issues and also serve as destinations for trafficked children from abroad. Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa are also becoming hot spots for child trafficking. Today, the situation is dire in the Asian region, in countries such as: Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC)
ECPAT defines CSEC as the following: A Fundamental violation of children’s rights. It comprises sexual abuse by the adult and remuneration in cash or kind to the child or a third person or persons. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children, and amounts to forced labor and a contemporary form of slavery. (ECPAT, Questions and Answers about CSEC) The primary factors of CSEC are prostitution, pornography, trafficking and sex tourism of persons under the age of 18. Under the age of 18 is an internationally recognized definition of child in numerous international treaties and conventions.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) now believes that the number of children trafficked annually is around 1.2 million. (2006)
It is estimated that two children per minute are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Annually, according to U.S. Government-sponsored research completed in 2006, approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include millions trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80 percent of transnational victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. (2007 Trafficking in Persons Report, U.S. State Department)
It is estimated that at least 27 million people are currently enslaved around the world, many who have been enslaved through being trafficked. This is more than double the number of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The U.N. and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion - about $10 billion is derived from the initial "sale" of individuals, with the remainder representing the estimated profits from the activities or goods produced by the victims of this barbaric crime. (UNODC)
These numbers make trafficking in persons the second most lucrative crime in the world. The first is drug trafficking. (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006).
About $28 billion of this is generated from commercial sexual exploitation. (International Labor Organization)
The organization to End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes believe that 45,000-50,000 persons are trafficked into the U.S. each year, 15,000 of them are children. (ECPAT-USA)
Common methods of trafficking:
- physical force
- coercion (debt relief for family, job, marriage, etc.)
- physical and emotional abuse
- threats against
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