Originally published on the CGS blog on December 14, 2015.
There are too many issues in the world. While I can blog, read, or talk about them, I think taking an action makes a stronger impact; whether it impacts an entire population or one person, every life is valuable and dear to my heart.
That being said, I am an advocate for ending human trafficking and personally passionate about women and children. I volunteer for a non-profit organization in Orange County, which works in sync with Saddleback Church’s Justice and Trafficking Initiative. My role is to make contact by profiling the victims of sex trafficking and to help them get out of the life.
One night, my advocacy partner and I were walking in a dark alley in California. We saw a petite blonde girl who was very beautiful. She had a black dress on and looked scared. I approached her from a distance and had the following conversation:
Me: Hey. It is going to be a cold night huh? What’s your name?
Her: Yeah. My name is Belle.* I gotta work right now. I can’t talk.
Me: You like your job?
Her: Well, I have never done it. Tonight is my first night.
Me: How old are you?
Her: 18
“She is not 18,” I thought to myself. She looked like she was 14 or 15.
Her: Look, I really can’t talk. They are following me since it is my first night. I have to do this.
Sure, this girl was being followed. A girl who was probably a minor was being forced to have sex. Like her, so many young girls around the world are ripped from their childhood on a daily basis. Regardless of age, no should ever have to have sex against their will.
Keeping the goal of Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions in mind, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called to use the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a “roadmap for stamping out root causes and freeing all enslaved people in our world.”
When we think of slavery, most of us think of the transatlantic slave trade that took place about 200+ years ago. Slavery still exists today, and it is better known as human trafficking.
According to the United Nations, human trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by force, abduction, fraud, or coercion,” for the purpose of forced labor or sexual exploitation.
According to the Global Slavery Index, 35.8 million people in the world currently are being trafficked. Now keep in mind that these are the reported numbers. Human trafficking is a crime that happens in the shadows; the true number of victims is most likely higher than the reported number.
The United Nations Office of Crime and Drugs (UNODC) collected human trafficking data from 2010-2012 and presented a report on it in 2014, which included the following findings:
• Victims of 152 different citizenships have been identified in 124 countries across the world.
• At least 510 trafficking flows have been detected.
• Some 64 percent of convicted traffickers are citizens of the convicting country.
• Some 72 percent of convicted traffickers are men, and 28 percent are women.
• 49 percent of detected victims are adult women.
• 33 percent of detected victims are children, which is a five percent increase compared to the 2007-2010 period.
Only 28% of offenders are convicted because they often intimidate victims with threats and abuse. The women also may not have the freedom to leave the watchful eyes of their pimps–not unlike the girl who was followed in the alley. This is because the pimps are in charge of collecting the money for the trafficker as well as keeping “their girls” under supervision.
The UNODC has detected 510 international trafficking routes, and this is probably only the tip of the iceberg. Because human trafficking has become so global, it can be difficult to assess in which State the felon should be convicted.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was created to seek justice for crimes against humanity, and global human trafficking is one of them. While many Americans are on board with the Court’s work, the U.S. is not a State party to the ICC. It is important to support the ICC because the world today is interconnected, and criminal networks–traffickers, cartel operators, smugglers–are no exception.
Traffickers usually aren’t just exploiting people, but often are involved in other criminal activities, such as embezzling funds and promoting State corruption, manufacturing and trading drugs, and aiding the growth of poverty and hunger. For example, based on several of my conversations with the girls on the streets of Southern California, they usually have to bring $500 back at the end of the night and if they don’t, then the pimps won’t provide them with food or necessary feminine products.
One of the survivors we helped was tested for vitamin deficiency; she was lacking in zinc, vitamins D and C, and desperately needed more B-12 as recommended by her doctor. People who are not affected by hunger, poverty, or trafficking usually have access to all of these nutrients.
Human traffickers make people work or have sex in a forced manner. They exploit children. They deny basic needs such as food and water. They promote drugs and corruption. If and when caught, they should be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. It is crucial to seek justice for the victims that have been exploited all over the globe.
*Name has been changed in order to maintain privacy.
