Today, January 11, is the first annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day. This is a very real, very large problem around the world and even in our own country. I saw this post from Katy Lost in Cambodia and had to share it. Let these 5 short facts sink in (and if you dare, respond).1) There are more people being forced to work as slaves in the world today than there were at the height of the transatlantic slave triangle. Trafficking is over taking weaponry to become the 2nd largest illegal industry after drugs. It’s taking place in every single country in the world*.
2) It can be expected that 1 in 40 girls in Cambodia will be sold into sex slavery**. As in other countries, poverty, the hope of finding a better paid job by moving to towns and cities and the market for sex on demand are all root causes of this horrifying statistic.
3) 1.2million children are trafficked each year (low estimation)***. The point of each sale is for someone else to make profit from that child. People will pay $1000 to rape a virgin for a week particularly in the East where there is a common myth that it will cure the man of Aids and give him strength against illness. In Cambodia, that child will often be restitched without anaesthetic and resold to increase profit^.
4) 70% of adult sex workers entered prostitution when they were children or young teenagers^^. You may see a ’consenting’ 18+ prostitute but you wouldn’t see what might have been done to her when she was 13, 10, 8 years old.
5) The millions of girls and children who’ve been trafficked are so traumatised and ashamed by what has been done to them that are not in a position to speak up about this crime. They need help but feel worthless. That is how the traffickers and pimps remain doing what they are doing and why we hardly hear this subject talked about.
If you are shocked/ surprised/ horrified by these 5 points, chances are your friends will be to. Take 1 minute to pass this information on and you will be doing a really important thing, raising awareness and bringing this subject out into the open where it needs to be.
*Various sources - Wikipedia ‘Slavery’
** 2005 report by The Future Group
*** Love146
^^ Barnardos – Who’s Child Now? report. Published November 2009 - Uncovering the frightening number of vulnerable teenage girls from the UK girls that are being groomed by older man into prostitution.
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