An estimated 27 million people are enslaved around the world today – that’s more than the population of 18 States. There are more people enslaved today than during the entire trans- Atlantic Africa slave trade.

 

The U.N. and other experts estimate the total market value of illicit human trafficking at 32 billion. These numbers make trafficking in persons the 2nd most lucrative crime in the world. The first is drug trafficking (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006).

There are anywhere between 600,000 and 800,000 victims trafficked through international borders every year, which does not include the millions trafficked domestically within their own countries (U.S State Department)

Sex Trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of commercial sex induced by force, fraud, or coercion

Approximately 80% of transnational victims are women and girls, and up to 50 % are minors (U.S State Department). The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. Traffickers prey on those who suffer most from macro factors like gender discrimination, family violence, and a lack of access to education and economic opportunity.

Approximately 1 million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade every year (US State Department, The Facts about Child Sex Tourism: 2005).

As of 2005, the Philippines ranked fourth among nine nations with 60,000 to 100,000 children involved in prostitution. The Province of Cebu, as the most densely populated island in the country and Cebu City, as the second most significant urban center in the Philippines has successfully promoted the region as a tourist destination where one can mix business with pleasure.

The dark side, unfortunately, is that Cebu is considered as one of the top five areas for child prostitution and sex tourism. Cebu City has become the destination point of internal and domestic trafficking of children as young as 11 to 17 years old coming from Samar, Bohol, Leyte, Negros and Bacolod.

 

The Philippines has been identified as source, transit and destination country for internationally trafficked persons (Trafficking in Persons Report, 2009)

Child sex trafficking is a major issue in the world today. There is an extreme injustice to millions of young women and children that must be addressed, especially within the Christian community. Slaves are not merely something people read about in history books, but they are part of the world today in many countries, including the United States, even though there are laws against it. Although there are times when pedophiles and brothel owners are thrown in jail, this does not always happen. Good people need to fight against sex slaves for the purpose of justice.

Many victims are placed in positions of helplessness for various reasons. They are not able to fight for their rights, because all of their rights are stripped away so that they can be someone else’s slave.

Living in the United States during the twenty-first century provides a sense of safety and freedom. It is difficult to immediately see that slavery still exists since African American slaves are a horror of the past. After all, America is the land of the free and the home of the brave.

 

Although these things are true of the United States, it is vital to have the knowledge that slavery is not merely a part of history. It is happening now. Currently, there are many forms of slavery around the world but child sex slavery is specifically one of the most appalling. This is an awful truth that must be addressed. In an issue of National Geographic in the fall of 2003, sex slavery was brought to light and “made the case that there are approximately twenty-seven million slaves in our world today that’s more slaves in our world today than were extracted from Africa during four hundred years of the transatlantic slave trade.”

 

There are countless young girls and even boys that are forced into this devastating fate. Moreover, there are children as young as five-years-old involved. There are entire villages that are economically formed around the sex trade. Most of them are in South Asia, but they exist all over the world. They are usually deceived into being trafficked, but sometimes they are offered into slavery by their parents for a profit. Gary Haugen, President of International Justice Mission and author of Terrify No More discusses how girls are constantly being exploited for this trade. Haugen states that girls and their parents are told they can have a better future if they obtain a well-paying job, but later find out that they are being forced into prostitution. Once at their “new job”, they are given new clothes and told what is required of them. By this point, the victims have no escape because they now have a debt to pay the brothel owners for their purchase. They have no other choice but to be sex slaves in hope that eventually they will be able to leave that horrible place where they are violated numerous times a day.

 

Even though the sex trade and slavery are against the law, government officials turn their eyes and allow it to happen because that is simply “the way things are”. As the book Terrify No More states, most of the clients are tourists. Some perpetrators are police officers that should be fighting against the atrocity, but are supporting it instead. Consequences for these children if they do not perform in a way in which their customers leave satisfied is physical abuse and starvation. Even though these girls are told that one day they could work to pay off their debt and leave, this cannot be guaranteed because they are property of the people who purchase them.

The depravity child sex slaves face on a daily basis must be stopped. We, as Americans who live in the land of plenty, are called to raise awareness of this issue and take action in the quest for justice.

Original report by Lindsey Nied

Revised and Edited by Nannette Ricaforte

http://www.myrefugehouse.com/about/about-sex-trafficking/

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