Throughout many centuries, the exploitation and abuse of children and adolescents led to the current trafficking problem occurring in Southeastern Asian countries. Child sex trafficking is known as one of the most common types of trafficking in the Asian nations.
Traced back to the Vietnam War in 1954, according to Nikolic-Ristanovic Vesna the visit of many U.S. soldiers caused a major demand for prostitution, which would later on convert to sex tourism. The U.S. soldiers being away from their home, and especially their wives, for very long periods of time, started feeling the need of sexual pleasure. As a result, many Asian women and children were forced and raped by U.S. armies. The consequences, would later be reflected in the countries that now face the major concern of child sex trafficking.
Currently, the commercial sexual exploitation of children exists in almost every Asian country, including: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Burma. For various reasons, child sex trafficking dominates many countries. “It is reported that 23,000 Cambodian per year are victims of trafficking, including minors” (United Stated Department of State). Laos also has groups of 50 to 100 Lao victims among thousands of Lao national deportees. The UNIAP, reports that because of poverty issues, lack of education and the need of employment, many children are abused and placed in the sex industry. As well, the Polaris Project Organization emphasizes that exposed populations are homeless youth. The United States Department of State adds that parents sometimes force their children to work in domestic services in urban areas, knowing and not knowing the risk of their child being trafficked. Moreover, the Polaris Project points out that the nu...
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...hild sex trafficking, which does not provide minors a protection from trafficking. So government in order to stop or lessen the sex trafficking in children they must create laws and policies to protect children rights in Southeastern Asia.
Child sex trafficking is tolerated by many Southeastern countries, impacting negatively the lives of many children; however attempts could be made to vanish the sexual exploitation of children.
Work Cited
“2013 Trafficking in Persons Report-Thailand.” Refworld.org United Sates Department of State,
19 Jun. 2013. Web. 17 Feb., 2014.
“Commercial sexual exploitation of Children.” International Labour Organization,. International
Labour Organization, n.d. Web. 17 Feb., 2014.
Polaris Project. Polaris Project, n.d. Web. 11 Feb., 2014
UNIAP. United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, n.d. Web. 30 Jan., 2014
As victim count continues to rise, its difficult to see how such great numbers of men, women and children are bought and sold every year. Trafficking can be found in many forms, including: prostitution, slavery, or forced labor (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). It wasn’t until the 1980’s that international human trafficking became globally noticed. With the lack of government intervention and control in several nations, and the free trade market, slavery once again became a profitable industry (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). As previously mentioned, easier movement across nations borders is one of the outcomes of globalization. It is also what makes human trafficking so easy today. It is estimated that about 20.9 million people are victims across the entire globe (United Nations Publications, 2012); trafficking accounts for 32 billion dollars in generated profit globally (Brewer, n.d). 58 percent of all human trafficking was for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and of this 55-60 percent are women (United Nations Publications,
The significance of this publication is to promote awareness on the issue of sex trafficking.
Many people are victims of sex trafficking and this horror must be stopped for the sake of the innocent girls and women who are being taken advantage of. Trafficking is a form of modern slavery because people’s bodies are sold for the gain of others against their wills. The steps that must be taken to prevent sex trafficking involve raising political and social awareness, people working together and the prosecution of traffickers.
There are many aid projects across the world who claim to help millions of people, but because these aid projects claim to help millions of people, that does not always mean that is the case There are many different aid types, and there can be aid for almost anything an area needs help with. One aid project that not many people know about is called the Polaris Project. After being exposed to a story of six South Korean women being forced to work in a brothel, Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman were inspired to do something about modern-day slavery (“Katherine Chon and Derek Ellerman: Fighting Human Trafficking" 3). Fast-forward 13 years and the Polaris Project is the world’s leading non-profit human trafficking aid organization in the country. The Polaris Project is the only aid organization to fight against all forms of human trafficking. Human trafficking occurs when a person is forced against his or her own will to engage in sexual acts. Human trafficking can happen to men, women and children; however, it mainly happens to women 18 years and older (“Sex Trafficking in the U.S.” 1). However, a deeper look needs to be taken into this organization to observe if Polaris Project is working effectively at what the organization claims to do.
Awareness of child sexual trafficking can be viewed as a balanced scale, with one side representing the country’s population that is fully informed of the issue, while the other side is either unaware or unattached to the issue. The public needs to have more involvement with this affair based on multiple concerns; first, the act of child sex trafficking itself is a serious crime that violates human rights (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Second, various negative health repercussion including transmittable sexual diseases, physical damages, mental disturbance, post traumatic stress disorders, and other illnesses plague many victims (Fong & Cardoso, 2010). Third, sexual trafficking is responsible for generating poverty as a result of obstructing economic, and social development (Reid, 2012). Child sex trafficking proves to be a global dilemma affecting numerous countries
Sex trafficking accounts for more than 70 percent of all trafficking, or as many as 19 million people (Behnke 30). Which is a lot of people that have had to go through this traumatic experience at any age they were during that time and they don’t have no choice. There are a number of reasons why children and adolescents become prostitutes. In some cases, parents are in such extreme conditions of poverty that they see the sale of the child as the only way of ensuring its survival. (Hobbs). So most of the kids that are being forced into prostitution because they want their families to have a better life and make more money so they feel like it’s their only option. Sex trafficking and prostitution have always been a part of Thailand’s history, however, the Vietnam War contributed to an explosion of the issue between 1955 and 1975. With an influx of anxious, homesick, and bored soldiers into the country, spilling over from Vietnam, the demand for prostitution skyrocketed, resulting in the growth of the human trafficking industry which still remains today.
Sex Tourists One very sad truth is that Americans travel to foreign countries to engage in sexual acts with children, acts that would be illegal in their native country and they are known as sex tourists. The United National International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) estimates that more than 1 million children are forced into prostitution every year. According to World Vision, a Christian relief organization, many of these children are either sold into prostitution to pay off family debts or forcibly recruited on the street to work in brothels, where they are required to have sex with as many as 30 men each day. Some prostitute children are just 5 years old (2006).
Hughes PhD, Donna M., Fact Sheets and Research Roports on Trafficking, Slavery and Sexual Exploitation, http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/pubtrfrep.htm Women’s Studies Program, University of Rhode Island, March 21, 2014
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
The United States is a major port for human trafficking and, “Due to the covert nature of human trafficking, it is difficult to ascertain which countries are the primary source nations for trafficking into the US” (Hepburn). People of all ages and genders are at risk to human trafficking (Hepburn). Women and girls make up about fifty-six percent of the people trafficked for forced labor, while men and boys make up the other forty-four percent; children make up forty to fifty percent of those numbers (Hepburn). Ninety-eight percent of the people trafficked for sexual explorations are women and girls (Hepburn). Children tend to be targeted more than adults because they are much more vulnerable. Human trafficking has different forms, and “While trafficking for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation is more publicized in the media, it is not the only form of trafficking that takes place in the US” (Hepburn). Trafficking for the purposes of forced labor is just as likely to occur as trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation (Hepburn). Many citizens have never heard of human trafficking for something other than sexual exploitation. Hepburn shows that, “Forty-three percent are trafficked for purposes of...
...se that still happens in majority of the world. Underprivileged and depressed children are victims that are usually targeted and because of that, governments and human rights organization have created laws that protect victims and prosecute traffickers. The act of luring victims into sex trafficking takes a form where the trafficker has to find ways to please the target and get victims to rely on them. Physical and psychological pain are inflicted on victims in order for them to stay in the Life which causes later effects felt by the victims when freed. In all attempts to protect and fight for the justice of the victims, the United States government came up with the TVPA but in turn that act seems to fail the victims. Sex trafficking is evident and highly extreme in the States. It happens around us every day, affecting and the destroying the lives of young females.
Human trafficking is prevalent throughout the world, especially in Asia and more specifically in China but the government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) are taking measures to put an end to it. Human trafficking involves exploitation of human beings; either sexually or by coercing them to work in unfavourable conditions for little pay or nothing at all. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” Women and children, especially girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty constitute the majority of victims of human trafficking. “China is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking; the majority of which is internal trafficking” (www.humantrafficking.org).
Human Trafficking started in the 1400’s during the beginning of the slave trade. This started during the European slave trade. Portuguese settlers would take Africans with them back to Portugal to use as slaves. Later in the 1600’s as settlers settled other nations such as North America, the slave trade started to expand. In 1904, the International Agreement for the Suppression of "White Slave Traffic" was signed and put into action (Yong). This agreement was placed to protect all white women from being forced or deceived into prostitution. In 1927 the League of Nations was created. The goal of this organization was, “maintaining world peace and also focusing on international issues such as human trafficking. The Suppression of White Slave Traffic was changed to "traffic in women and children" so that everyone was included with no discrimination to race. Children of both genders were also recognized as victims of trafficking” (Yong). In 1932 the Japanese governmen...
Child prostitution in other countries stems mostly from poverty. The family of the child might be in such dire need of money that they sell the child, or the child themselves feel it is their only resort. The children are often run-a-way’s or coming from families that do not want them who feel they can only rely on themselves for support.
...Human Trafficking in the East Asia Pacific Region." HumanTrafficking.org: A Web Resource for Combating Human Trafficking in the East Asia Pacific Region. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.