Child Sex Slaves in America

[j_shady]

this article is long about 2 pages, but its an interesting read

It's the ultimate price to pay for the American Dream. Thousands of children from other countries, many of them orphans and refugees, come to America to find a better living. They are promised an education or a good job, only to find out that they have been brought or sent to America to work as sex slaves.

According to The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), an estimated one million children worldwide, mostly teenage girls, are coerced into this multi-billion dollar industry every year. The younger children are often abducted or sold into sex rings throughout the U.S.

In southern California, there have been reports of trafficking girls across the Mexican-American border. Many victims are abandoned by their families or sold for as much as $400. Once they enter the U.S., several people are involved with transporting the victims to the brothels where they will work for little or no pay. Traffickers will tell the girls that they have to work in order to repay their travel expenses to America.

On the east coast, a Plainfield, NJ house was raided in February 2002. According to the article New York Times Magazine's "The Girls Next Door," four Mexican girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were found inside the house. The girls were not prostitutes; they were slaves being held captive by traffickers, forced to work under harsh conditions without pay.

Not all sex slaves are part of a complex sex ring; some are kidnapped by people looking to make easy money. Recently, there was a 15-year-old runaway found in Phoenix who was forced into being a sex slave. On November 10, two teens were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and forcing the girl to work as a sex slave. The suspects, 19 year-old Janelle Butler and Matthew Gay, allegedly sold the girl over the internet and made her stay in a small dog cage for weeks, while they made money selling her for sex.

It is difficult for U.S. authorities to capture traffickers because most victims are afraid to report what is happening. Traffickers will threaten to kill the girls or kill their families if they try to tell anyone or escape from the sex ring. Corrupt police, immigration officials, organized crime groups and gangs make human trafficking possible. Corruption on both sides of the border is another factor that makes it difficult to target and end sex rings in America.

With awareness comes change and there are several organizations involved with raising awareness on child exploitation and putting an end to child sex trafficking in the U.S. and worldwide.

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is an organization that aims at raising awareness amongst young adults about human rights issues. Human trafficking is one of the major issues they are advocates for. They have held panel discussions in California with representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice present to discuss solutions to this issue.

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Caroline Wittcoff of the U.S. Department of Justice attended the panel in January 2004, titled "Slavery Today". At the panel, Wittcoff mentioned that stricter legal penalties for perpetrators are needed in addition to "more resources and services to help victims before and after they escape their captors."

UNICEF plays a major role in putting an end to child sex trafficking as well. The UNICEF website states that one of the ways they aim to put an end to this is through "educating communities on the dangers of trafficking." Representatives for UNICEF were also present at the "Slavery Today" conference.

The U.S. Department of State has a division that tackles issues involving human trafficking. The Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons is responsible for enforcing laws against traffickers. They issue an annual trafficking in persons report (TIP Report) that explains in detail all aspects of human trafficking including the laws and penalties related to trafficking of people. In the report issued on June 11, 2003, it states that "this report is a diplomatic tool for the U.S. Government as an instrument for continued dialogue, encouragement for the current work of some governments, and a guide to help focus resources on prosecution, protection, and prevention programs and policies."

Mary Shuttleworth, the Executive Director of YHRI, compared human trafficking to modern-day slavery. Shuttleworth said "The visible chains of the slavery of the 17th Century simply moved underground, went global, multiplied about 10 times and can be described by one word: Terror!"

SOHH.com has now made the online hip-hop community aware of the problem and awareness is the first step. Look up any of the organizations in this story to find out ways that you can help in the prevention of child sex slaves and human trafficking.

U.S. Department of State: http://www.state.gov (Trafficking in Persons Report)

Youth For Human Rights International: http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/

United Nation Children's Fund: http://www.unicef.org

(sohh.com)