It currently holds 27 million victims.
It claims over 1.2 million new victims every year.
In the United States alone, it is estimated that there are 250,000-500,000 new victims annually
It's a $32 Billion USD-per-year industry, and within 10 years, is expected to overtake drugs and firearms to become the largest criminal enterprise in the world.
And it is present in EVERY city in every country in the world.
It's likely affected someone you know.
Human sex trafficking is a worldwide problem that has grown more than tenfold in the past two years. It involves the abduction, movement, and forced prostitution of both minors and adults. It's modern-day slavery.
In the United states, there are only 71 FBI task forces dedicated to this problem. Despite being the fastest growing criminal enterprise, only $50 million USD is spent to combat it in the US, while nearly $20 BILLION is spent fighting drug trafficking.
Most victims are runaways. Most are in the foster care system. Most come from abusive homes. What this means is, more often than not, NO ONE is looking for them, NO ONE is there to take them back when rescued. Often, no one even reports them missing!!
In Cambodia, people will sell their children for a bag of rice. In the United States, it's usually for drugs. Imagine, a child traded for a bag of meth! A day's meal or a few days' fix. That's what kids are worth.
The average age of victims is 13 years old. But they can be as young as 6.
In my Senior year of high school, I met and spoke with a freshman girl whom I noticed was cutting herself. I spent an hour talking to her. Nearly three years later, we reconnected. She told me how that was the happiest she'd been in a long time.
As it turns out, she had been victimized from the time she was 4 until she was 15!! When I met her, she had been through suicide rehab programs several times, she was struggling with severe self-injury and severe anorexia. She was the most selfless person I had ever met, which I thought was amazing, until I realized it was because she had been told all her life that she wasn't worth the air she breathed. She got out of her situation, and is getting the help she needs, but until recently, there wasn't much help out there for her to get.
That's changing because of an organization called "Courage to be You." They're dedicated to building homes for victims of this abomination.
Generally, the victims are runaways, from abusive homes, trying to escape. Thus, they have nowhere to go back to. US Law Enforcement agencies typically send the victims to Juvenile Hall, for the sake of keeping them safe from their pimps and abductors. They are treated almost like criminals themselves! They are, in some cases, be sent to shelters wholly unequipped to handle the type of psychological trauma the victims are left with. 90% of victims get no after-care whatsoever, and are often left to seek and pay for counseling, health, and other necessary services themselves.
Courage to be You, Inc. is a non-profit organization building group-run safehouses for victims to stay, and be rehabilitated. They work with local and federal law enforcement, and are spreading worldwide. They currently have a home nearly ready for operation in Sacramento, and are building one in Tanzania. They will soon be spreading to, and have begun operations in, Hawaii and India. They want a house in every city in the US where there is an FBI taskforce present, and then more worldwide.
Currently, there's a project being put on by a company called Vivint, where they will be giving more than $1.2 million dollars away to the top-picked charities in the contest. C2BU is one of the entries. You can vote for it by clicking the following link;
http://www.vivint.com/givesbackproject/charity/296PLEASE VOTE!! This organization deserves to win! They will do so much good from it...
My friend, whom I spoke of earlier, is being helped by these people.
To learn more about this, here are some informational links:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/human_trafficking/initiativeshttp://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/human_traffickinghttp://www.couragetobeyou.org/learn-more/http://helpstopchildslavery.org/ChildSlaverytoday.aspHere's a video produced by C2BU that depicts the horrors of Human Trafficking. It's pretty graphic. Not recommended for anyone under 13, definitely not for the faint of heart:
http://www.vimeo.com/6881264Here's a link to the story of a girl that the events in the video pretty accurately reflect:
http://theydontbelongtoyou.blogspot.com/2010/03/for-terrifying-8-days-vicki-zito-had-no.htmlNow, educate yourselves. Something needs to be done about this. Now. Most people don't know enough about it to care. Most people wouldn't have a second thought other than "That's F***ked up."
What about you?
TL;DR: People all over the world, in every city, as young as 6 years old, are being forcibly sold for sex as we speak. What are we going to do about it?
