Moldova. Some know it as the poorest country in Europe.
Others call it the Africa of Europe.
It is also where 60% of human trafficked girls in Europe are taken from.
According to www.thehomefoundation.net, “Sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18 years.”
Trafficking in women is the second largest global organized crime today, generating approximately $12 billion a year.
Being on The Race this year, God has pricked my heart for the women and children who are forced into trafficking. It’s just not right! I worked first hand with it in Thailand where it is blatantly flashy and obvious. But what about the overlooked places…say a small village in Moldova.
We ended up in Ocinta, Moldova this past month. It is a small border town in the northern portion of the country near Ukraine. On most days it seems to be overcast and cold. Its an every day thing to see a horse and carriage trot by or a Snow White wishing well at every corner. There are the affects of recent Communistic oppression and then there are the most beautiful sunsets of God’s promising hope. But what you don’t see is what began to really disturb me.
Why wasn’t it blatantly obvious to me now? Is it even happening? Is it real?
I started researching and began reading stories of girls from Kiev, Chisnau, Bucharest, The UAE, etc….places I’ve been, the streets I walked, that were taken from their homes and forced into a life of prostitution. But why don’t I see it now?
I started asking questions to my contact’s wife about whether it happens in Ocinta. She says its real, yea girls are taken from these very streets. They want a better life outside of Moldova and they are told they will have a good job, next moment they find themselves in a foreign country, a foreign language, identity and passport stolen, and their life controlled by lethal threats against their very survival.
Us girls on my team were even told not to walk the streets after as early at 7 pm. Guys it was okay, but for women, that adjustment has just become a way of life.
There are a number of common patterns for luring victims into situations of sex trafficking, including:
– A promise of a good job in another country
– A false marriage proposal turned into a bondage situation
– Being sold into the sex trade by parents, husbands, boyfriends
– Being kidnapped by traffickers
Want to hear something else that may shake your world?
According to the US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2006,
“The United States of America is principally a transit and destination country for trafficking in persons. It is estimated that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. annually.”
Our own Atlanta, Georgia is the largest hub in the States for this human trafficking epidemic!
It’s in our own country!
There is a battle for freedom in the world and sometimes its discreet, silent, and ignored.
Following are links to voices that are being Kingdom Loud!
-http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/united_states_of_america
-www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/news/film-targets-child-sex-trafficking-in-georgia-110810
-www.thehomefoundation.net
-www.thea21campaign.org/
Want to be active?
Taken from the A21 Campaign’s website, here are resources where you can get involved:
http://www.thea21campaign.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=320&Itemid=315&lang=en
