Human Trafficking
Sex slavery and human trafficking is every bodies business. And it's not just happening in Eastern Europe or South East Asia either- it's a huge market in "developed" countries like the US too.
"Both M.S. and Asia said they were arrested and thrown into jail, and that the police treated them like criminals, even when they knew they were minors. Often times, police officers solicited their services, the girls said, or they had relationships with pimps.
"They would just send me to jail and keep me here for like a couple of months, then they'd release me thinking everything's good," M.S. said. "I was scared to run to the police or cops or something because you know... I don't think they'd really listen. They try to set up a date with you knowing that you were a minor. They didn't care."
The statistics are frightening- it is now second only to drug trafficking in terms of profitability but with none of the risks because law enforcement doesn't care to spend billions of dollars on the "war against slavery", instead we punish the victims and rarely prosecute the perps (and it is usually only in the cases with nice white girls from nice, middle class backgrounds).
"...there isn't a culture of crime and punishment for selling girls as there is for selling illegal drugs. It is less risky, and more profitable (the girls are "reusable"), to traffic girls, instead of meth or crack.
Perversely, it is the girls -- and not the men -- who end up being criminalized. Prostitution is the leading reason for girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, citing the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention statistics on juvenile arrests, reports that 63% of girls in detention are there for prostitution. Girls are put behind bars for being raped and sexually exploited by pimps and the men who purchase them for the night.
Unlike the international landscape of non-profits set up to rescue and rehabilitate victims of sex trafficking, here in the U.S., there are few such safe havens or trauma-based programs. There are presently less than 50 beds in the entire nation for American trafficked victims. Girls sold into sexual slavery in Thailand or India are perceived as victims. In the U.S., they are cast aside as "hos", "prostitutes", and "bad girls". Yet, these discarded American girls share the same experiences of victimization, poverty, and abuse endured by those who are trafficked abroad. They deserve the same support systems and chance to heal that is afforded by many worthy NGOs overseas."
This is about the plight of the disenfranchised, the vulnerable disposable people who are being sold into slavery right this minute and it can happen to ANYBODY.
Please, support the discussion of this subject, because it is something that we need to keep in the open and in the news and on the desks of our politicians.
http://www.humantrafficking.org/
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx
http://www.iabolish.org/
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://free2work.org/ good site to find ethical suppliers of consumer goods
http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/end-human-trafficking/page.do?id=1108428
"Both M.S. and Asia said they were arrested and thrown into jail, and that the police treated them like criminals, even when they knew they were minors. Often times, police officers solicited their services, the girls said, or they had relationships with pimps.
"They would just send me to jail and keep me here for like a couple of months, then they'd release me thinking everything's good," M.S. said. "I was scared to run to the police or cops or something because you know... I don't think they'd really listen. They try to set up a date with you knowing that you were a minor. They didn't care."
The statistics are frightening- it is now second only to drug trafficking in terms of profitability but with none of the risks because law enforcement doesn't care to spend billions of dollars on the "war against slavery", instead we punish the victims and rarely prosecute the perps (and it is usually only in the cases with nice white girls from nice, middle class backgrounds).
"...there isn't a culture of crime and punishment for selling girls as there is for selling illegal drugs. It is less risky, and more profitable (the girls are "reusable"), to traffic girls, instead of meth or crack.
Perversely, it is the girls -- and not the men -- who end up being criminalized. Prostitution is the leading reason for girls' involvement in the juvenile justice system. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, citing the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention statistics on juvenile arrests, reports that 63% of girls in detention are there for prostitution. Girls are put behind bars for being raped and sexually exploited by pimps and the men who purchase them for the night.
Unlike the international landscape of non-profits set up to rescue and rehabilitate victims of sex trafficking, here in the U.S., there are few such safe havens or trauma-based programs. There are presently less than 50 beds in the entire nation for American trafficked victims. Girls sold into sexual slavery in Thailand or India are perceived as victims. In the U.S., they are cast aside as "hos", "prostitutes", and "bad girls". Yet, these discarded American girls share the same experiences of victimization, poverty, and abuse endured by those who are trafficked abroad. They deserve the same support systems and chance to heal that is afforded by many worthy NGOs overseas."
This is about the plight of the disenfranchised, the vulnerable disposable people who are being sold into slavery right this minute and it can happen to ANYBODY.
Please, support the discussion of this subject, because it is something that we need to keep in the open and in the news and on the desks of our politicians.
http://www.humantrafficking.org/
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/default.aspx
http://www.iabolish.org/
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
http://free2work.org/ good site to find ethical suppliers of consumer goods
http://www.amnestyusa.org/violence-against-women/end-human-trafficking/page.do?id=1108428