Trafficking is
the “practice” of involuntarily moving people into locations and jobs for the
profit of another. It consists
of: violence, deception, coercion,
deprivation of freedom of movement, abuse of authority, debt bondage, forced
labor and slavery-like practices, and other forms of exploitation or use of
force.
*Human
trafficking, sometimes called the “largest slave trade in history,” is
overtaking drug smuggling as one of the world’s fastest growing illegal
enterprises.
*Worldwide
trafficking numbers: 250,000 come
from Asia, 100,000 from the former Soviet Union, 175,000 from Central and
Eastern Europe, 100,000 from Latin America and the Caribbean, and 50,000 from
Africa. The majority of these
victims are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. 80% are women and girls, and up to 50%
are minors.
*2 million girls
between ages 5-15 are introduced into the commercial sex market each year.
*10 million
children worldwide are engaged in some facet of the sex industry. Each year at least one million
children, mostly girls,
become prostitutes.
*89% of
prostitutes want to escape. 60 to
75% have been raped.
*In Thailand,
10-12 year old girls service men in the sex industry. They typically have sex with men 10-15 times daily and
sometimes as many as 20-30.
*At least 200,000
women and children work in prostitution in Thailand. 1/3 of the women are under the age of 18, and girls as young
as six years old work in prostitution.
*One time, a
doctor counted 35 men using a girl in one hour. When the police raided the brothel, they found dozens of
empty boxes of condoms, each box having held a thousand condoms.
This month in
Cambodia, we are working at a safe house for girls who have been rescued from
the sex trafficking industry. When
we got our ministry, I just assumed we would be the same age as the girls but
when we walked into the house the first day, what I saw was not what I
expected. I felt like I was
entering an orphanage instead of a house for girls taken from the sex industry. The girls are between the ages of 12-18
years old. I can’t even begin to
fathom what they have already gone through at their young ages and right now
they just want a normal life.
We spend our
days teaching English, playing games, riding bikes, doing arts and crafts,
having devotions, teaching line dancing and just having fun. When spending time with the girls it’s
easy to forget where they where rescued from. I pray that I don’t forget and I hope that this blog will
raise awareness of this horrific epidemic.
For more
information on human trafficking, visit this BLOG by Matthew Snyder.
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of
injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel
debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the
hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the
shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.
Do this and the
lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness
will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you
pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.'”
Isaiah 58:6 (The Message)
