Child Trafficking

So today I want to raise awareness about something heavy,
something I really care about...child trafficking.

While I was doing volunteer work in Southeast Asia 9 years ago, our team decided to pass through the red light district in hopes of sharing the love of Christ with some of the prostitutes. My heart broke as I saw the young women offer their bodies and their souls up in order to make a day's wages.

As we walked, we came across an unusual, large 5 story brothel that caught my eye. It was one of many in a long line of brothels with half naked women and transvestites standing out front. It had a heavy chain lock on the oversized double front door. As our group made small talk with a few of the girls, I couldn't help but stare at that one building. This one was different than all of the others, because every single window was boarded up. It was just like the scene from the movie "Taken." When I asked one of the prostitutes why that particular building was all boarded up, she regretfully told me there were young girls inside. I asked her why no one did anything, and if we should tell the police. She replied, "Oh honey, they are the ones that keep it going." I left in tears, absolutely horrified and it has stuck with me ever since.

Why this is coming up now, I don't know. It is something I have often thought of, but why not now? It is never too late to do something, it is never a bad time to raise awareness. The sad thing is, this type of thing happens everyday. And it is not just in Southeast Asia. It goes on in Europe, Australia, even America. In fact, at a woman's conference I attended in Malaysia I learned that American businessmen are the #1 supporters of child trafficking in Thailand, the trafficking hub of the world. This information was reinforced in my Woman's Studies class at Meredith College.

The problem is big. And almost too sad to talk about. But I want to talk about it. I felt so helpless that day. Today, I want to DO SOMETHING.

This is a cause I believe in. Check it out: www.sctnow.org Stop Child Trafficking Now focuses on putting predators behind bars.

Info from the SCTNOW website:

"Child Trafficking is the recruitment, smuggling, transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a child through force, threats, fraud, deception, or coercion for the purposes of exploitation, prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage or involuntary servitude.
Child trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. UNIC
EF values the global market of child trafficking at over $12 billion a year with over 2 million child victims. Men, women and children are all victims but, the most vulnerable groups, those with limited rights or protections, have been the hardest hit… especially children.
Trafficking children into the sex industry is done because there is a demand. Predators seek out vulnerable victims and lure them under false pretenses into situations they cannot escape from. No matter the reason, children have become sexual commodities to be bought and sold for the pleasure of exploiters. These children are scarred for life and need help – our help.
Stop Child Trafficking Now believes strongly that to eliminate this heino
us crime the demand for children must end. That’s why SCTNow seeks to destroy the source. SCTNow believes that by putting predators behind bars we can Stop Child Trafficking Now."



Child Trafficking Statistics:

• 300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. -U.S. Department of Justice
• 600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across international borders each year; 50% are children, most are female. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. – U.S. Department of State, 2004, Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington, D.C.
• An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. – U.S Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons
• An estimated 2 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry – UNICEF
• Investigators and researchers estimate the average predator in the U.S. can make more than $200,000 a year off one young girl
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• "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea." Matt. 18:16