Dicky Huang, Jenny Ly, Cecilia Yu, Rebecca Flores, Beth Amare

Mrs. Sutton

Contemporary Themes Per. 5

03/12/2015

Sex Trafficking: A Global Problem

       Human trafficking is the illegal movement of people, typically for the purposes of forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation. Human sex trafficking is one of the major forms of trafficking that is still performed today. Treating people as cargos, traffickers abduct people, mostly adult women and young girls, send them to remote places, and throw them into the chains of debts. A victim of human sex trafficking is not always kidnapped or manipulated directly by the trafficker, however. In some cases, a parent or the parents of a child may force their kid into sex slavery (Goldman 1). Sex slaves end up living in brothels with poor health conditions, inadequate food, and are exposed to both mental and physical abuse. Although human trafficking occurs mostly in poor and rural nations such as Nepal and Bangladesh, human trafficking is not limited to developing countries, as it is also common in wealthier, more urban nations such as Australia, Italy, and Japan. While the brutal business of human trafficking and child prostitution bring pain, disease, unwanted pregnancy, and mental disorders to millions of girls in the deep-rooted India and Brazil, this modern slavery also spreads to the United States, hurts thousands of young American girls both physically and mentally, and becomes increasingly a worldwide problem.

       Human trafficking in India, although illicit by Indian and international law, remains a significant problem and hurts millions of young girls. In Patricia McCormick’s book Sold, the author depicts the tragic life of a fictional character named Lakshmi. She is a thirteen-year-old girl who is sold from Nepal to India by her stepfather and is forced to work in a brothel with other young girls. Facing the abyss of debt, Lakshmi is deceived, locked out, starved, beaten, and raped by many strangers for about 30 rupees (48 cents). Suffering in this modern day slavery Lakshmi loses her family, life, and hope and feels old, tired, angry and sad (McCormick 192). However, Lakshmi is not alone, as one article from CNN states, at least 100 millions children are involved in human trafficking and approximately 1.2 million children are involved in prostitution (CNN 1). Human trafficking and child prostitution have already became a common phenomena in India, and they gradually distort people’s view on morality and gender relationship. More importantly, sex trafficking forces disease, mental disorders, and unwanted pregnancy onto victims of human sex trafficking. If a sex slave were to have a child, their child would be forced to continue to live in harsh environments along with their parents. In India, sex trafficking is not only harmful for the victims and their children, but also creates more urban poverty and social chaos.

       On the other side of the earth, in Brazil, during the recent popular FIFA World Cup, human trafficking and child prostitution boosted and became overwhelming, revealing the darkness under the seeming economic prosperity. According to Michelle Lillie, “In the year prior to the FIFA World Cup, girls from the poor areas of Brazil began to go missing. Many of the young women were kidnapped from the slums of Brazil by sex traffickers and taken to the FIFA World Cup sites where they were used to service the construction workers building the soccer stadiums” (Lillie 4). Human trafficking develops at large sporting events such as the Olympic Games, Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup because more tourists means greater profit for the business. In this case, innocent children are treated as seasonal products when demand is high, and their destiny totally depends on consumers and traffickers. Ironically, FIFA World Cup would come to an end within a month and tourists may go back to their own countries without any concern, but the trauma and humiliation those children suffer would last forever, and they would be trapped in the prostitution industry throughout their lives. As stated by Connor Adams in an article from International Business Times, “It's not easy to talk about, nor is it simple to stop, but child sex workers are unfortunately a part of life in Brazil, as they are in many other places around the globe” (Adam 4).

       It may be a surprise to hear, but human trafficking is still happening in the United States and threatens ten of thousands of young girls. Although “Practice of child prostitution is economically unsound, psychologically disastrous, and morally dangerous and harmful on even and individual child” (Misha 17), in this country symbolized by equality and freedom, there are at least 100,000 children involved in this brutal business, which generates around $9.5 billion per year (Burgess 230). Sex traffickers often manipulate their victims in by promising high paying jobs or romantic relationships, but eventually begin to control their victims by physically and emotionally abusing them. One way these young girls sell their bodies is by knocking on cab doors at truck stops. The victims are isolated from their friends and families and are threatened if they try to escape. Because victims only have contact with their abusers, they end up becoming very fearful and distrustful. Young children are in such high demand of traffickers worldwide, the average age entry for sex slavery in America is around 13 years old. Those victims lose not only their childhood, but also their future.

        Human trafficking and child prostitution are serious social problems around the world, hurting millions of innocent girls and families every day. As responsible citizens, people should make contribution in opposing sex trafficking, by contacting local agency or federal department responsible to enforce anti-child prostitution law, such as the Human Trafficking Resource Center, and reporting any suspicious or illegal activity. We should also help survivors of human sex trafficking adjust to their environment, offer support, bring justice by penalizing the traffickers, and help be a part of their future. Children represent the hope and future of human being, and they should be protected, educated, and loved. To save children, save humanity, and save morality, we should fight human trafficking and child prostitution without hesitation. Their future isn't over, regardless of whether they are survivors of human sex trafficking or not, because you cannot change the past but you can always build your future.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

1. McCormick, Patricia. Sold. New York: Hyperion, 2006. 192. Print.

2. Unknown author."Official: More than 1M Child Prostitutes in India." (2009). CNN. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

3. Lillie, Michelle. "Sex Trafficking at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil." (2014). Human Trafficking Search. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

4. Adams, Connor. “Child Prostitution: The Brazil World Cup's Dark Side.” (2014). Print.

5. Misha, Sarika. "Child Prostitution in India." (2010). International Initiative to End Child Labor. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.

6. Burgess, Ann Wolbert, and Cheryl Regehr. Victimology: Theories and Applications. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett, 2010. 230. Print.

7.Goldman, Russell. "Parents Who Pimp Their Children." ABC News. ABC News Network, 08 Oct. 2007. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.