In poverty stricken Southeast Asia, every day children become trapped into the prostitution industry. Strangers or even close family members and friends deceive children into sex trade. Once trapped, chances of escape are low. With the sex industry growing and thriving, countries in Southeast Asia continue to tolerate the retail of children for sex acts.
The origin of the sex industry is not exact, but the demand for women sold as sex slaves in Asia skyrocketed in 1932. During WWII, the Japan government set up so called “comfort stations,” holding women against their will to work as prostitutes. While held prisoner, any chance of escape was limited. The prisoners, from across Asia, lived in horrid conditions, where diseases, malnutrition, exhaustion, and suicide occurred daily. The Japanese government claimed that comfort stations was to “prevent rape crimes in public, prevent spread of STDs, and to provide comfort for soldiers, so they wouldn’t tell military secrets” (“Timeline of Human Trafficking”).
Today, the child sex exploitation flourishes because of the high demand of young or virgin girls and the growing tolerance of sex with young teens in some Asian cultures. Once a girl enters the sex industry, she may be forced into porn or prostitution. The work a girl is succumbed to may be visible, such as street prostitution, or hidden in spas, massage parlors, or in another business (“Sex Slavery/Trafficking: Frequently Asked Questions”).
Unfortunately, one can enter the sex trade in multiple ways. Traffickers could lure a girl by a promise of a better life, or one could be sold by their parents because of economic reasons. Once sold, captors will keep the prisoners’ official document and move their prisoners to different co...
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...to be any value to their captors, they either end up in the streets or become sold into other laborious trafficking industries. If not stopped, the sex industry will continue to grow and children and teenagers will become trapped into a dangerous world.
Works Cited
“Child Sex Trafficking Thrives in Thailand.” Fox News. Fox News Network, 16 Aug 2006. Web. 10
Feb 2014.
Glotfelty, Elliot. “Boys, Too: The Forgotten Stories of Human Trafficking.” Fair Observer. Fair
Observer, 2 Oct 2013. 3 Feb 2014
“Sex Slavery/Trafficking: Frequently Asked Questions.” Soroptimist. Soroptimist International of the
Americas, n.d. Web. 1 Jan 30.
“Timeline of Human trafficking.” Rutgers University Campus Coalition Against Trafficking. n.p.,
n.d. Web. 14 Feb 2014
“Trafficking in Persons Report 2013.” U.S. Department of State. Bureau of Public Affairs, 19 Jun
2013. Web. 5 Feb 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.
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.
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).
Thousands of women are currently held captive in America today. In 2006, it is estimated that over 300 thousand children are held in the sex trafficking business. Particularly, girls under the age of eighteen are forced into the sex trafficking trade. Sex trafficking is known as modern- day slavery. An estimate of 30 to 46 percent of juveniles in the trade attempt suicide. “Potterat et al., 2004 reports that women involved in prostitution have mortality rates 200 times higher than the national average) and are 18 times more likely to be murdered than their non-trafficked counterparts”, Cecchet (2014). Many girls will become abducted from their homes, schools, neighborhoods, and local shopping centers. Some of these young
Sex trafficking is a term that covers a range of activities. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines it as “a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years” (The Campaign 1). Victims of sex trafficking may be forced to do any number of activities to earn money for their traffickers. These include “prostitution, pornography, stripping, live-sex shows, mail-order brides, military prostitution and sex tourism” (10). Wherever there is demand for the sexual exploitation of a certain type of individual, such as teenage girls, young boys or children, traffickers will find people to meet that demand. Unfortunately, this puts innocent people in situations where they are taken advantage of.
Sex trafficking is a world wide epidemic. It targets unknowing victims such as women and children enslaving them and exploiting their innocence. Human trafficking is becoming one of the biggest money making organized crimes in the world. The sex trade is one of the most profitable of all current slave trades. Through the age, gender, class, and race many are trapped in a never-ending cycle of coercion and abuse in order to survive in the corrupt society around them. In order to stop this monstrosity in the world, we need to start at the root of the problem. We must bridge the barriers between gender, class, and race in order to respect one another and live in harmony
An article released by the BBC entitled “Horrors of India’s Brothels Documented” brought this shocking global issue to my attention. The article provides information about a young Indian girl who was only 11 when she was sold into sex slavery by her neighbor (who had persuaded her family to let her go with him to Mumbai); she was taken from her impoverished village in West Bangel. Brutally raped the first night she arrived in a brothel, Guddi is only one of 20,000 sex workers in that specific area [Kamathipura] (2013). The article elaborates on the history of sex slavery in India. It points out that laws have recently been put into place against human trafficking. However, the laws are not being strongly enforced due to the sheer number of the cases. Human trafficking is like a plague that is spread throughout the world, and India is one of the hardest hit places. This paper will elaborate on the reasons this condition exists in India, and explain the connections that India has with the rest of the world that stem from this issue.
Sex Trafficking is not just a country problem but a global problem that people should be aware of everyday. When we see young women and girls in the street, we sometimes turn our head away and think they’re just doing it because they want to. Yet, we don’t take the time to think what if they were forced into doing this? No one knows the estimate number and growth of the industry but do to the illegal nature of trafficking, it is a huge criminal industry. Most people believe that human trafficking only occurs in places that has poverty, however, that is not the case, it can happen anywhere.
Putting those “vulnerable populations” around the world in “greater danger” (McCain). A main point in this article is the author’s point of view that “a buy buyer or trafficker who takes advantage of someone’s lack of choice for their own financial or sexual gain is an exploiter of human rights and should be criminalized” (McCain). Because the harsh fact that these men will always get what they want one way or another, these men believe that they have the control over the victims. The sex business is not safe one to be involved with. These prostitutes are going to work with an empty knowledge as to who they will be providing for that night or even the character of that man. These women could just be trying to make it by in life but little do they know their customer could just as easily show up with a “kill kit” and try to harm them just for being a victim of prostitution, something that these women see as their life
Every year countless numbers of men, women, and children become victims of human trafficking. An estimated 800, 000 women and children are trafficked each year across international borders, 80% ending in forced sex work. (USDS, 2004) Unfortunately, that estimate does not include persons being trafficking in their own country and persons who are missing. Whether it be in their own country, or a country abroad, almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, human trafficking is considered to be one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world. Similar to drug trafficking and arms trafficking, human trafficking is a supply and demand criminal industry. Because human traffi...
The Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography defines child prostitution as “the act of obtaining, procuring or offering the services of a child or inducing a child to perform sexual acts for any form of compensation or reward.” The prostitution of a child manifests itself in a form of human/sex trafficking. The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (2000) defines child trafficking as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring and/or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation.” Many people refuse to recognize child trafficking as a real threat. But the reality of the situation is that every year, a total of millions of children are forced or duped into participating in these acts (I.L.O. 2005). The dangers the victims of this crime face are far beyond anything a normal citizen could imagine. But thankfully, there are people and organizations that are willing to demolish this business. There has been a range of proposed solutions that are currently being implemented. These are classified into four different types of action: protection, law enforcement, prevention, and victim assistance.
It is estimated that more than two million people around the world are being trafficked every year, the most of whom are unfortunately females. Since the past, gender inequality and unfairness existed. Many parents think that if they have a daughter, they have a bigger responsibility than having a son. Some parents treat their daughters so harshly and miserably because they don’t want others to say that they weren’t raised well by their parents. There should definitely be more attention on the extent of trafficking females. There should definitely be rules and punishments for those who sell their daughters to men without their agreement too. Some of the girls are too young to understand that if her parents gave her away, horrible things like murder and sexual assault might happen to them. Women and girls are being sent to foreign countries to work and are also given for men to marry. Those women and girls are actually forced into prostitution (David M. Smolin, 2005). Others are forced to be used by men because of the position of their family, as they are in the low-class. Parents sell their daughters to men for two main reasons.