A 9-year-old girl named Ana was smuggled and sold into sex slavery then forced into a life of prostitution for over two years. These are usually the type of stories we often hear connected to sex trafficking. What makes this story slightly different is that it took place here in the United States.
Many people often associate trafficking with foreign countries. Americans tend to think that sex trafficking could never take place in a country as sophisticated as the United States. This of course is not the case. In 2005, the Department of Justice reported that an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 sex slaves in the U.S. since 2001.
People are trafficked in 161 countries, including the United States. According to the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, an estimated 17,500 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year alone. The largest number of people trafficked into the United States come from East Asia and the Pacific. Other countries include Latin America and Europe.
In spite of what many may believe sex trafficking is not just one country’s problem.
Approximately 2.4 million people are victims of sex trafficking. Children are primarily the targeted victims of trafficking. According to UNICEF, two million children, primarily girls, are sexually trafficked each year. Around the world, between 50 and 60 percent of the children who are trafficked into sexual slavery are under age 16.
Sex traffickers often recruit children because not only are children are more unsuspecting and vulnerable than adults, but there is also a high market demand for young victims. Traffickers target victims though a variety of methods including on the telephone, on the Internet, through friends and in public places.
Sex trafficking is and always has been one of the most significant crisises that our world faces. Human trafficking, which includes both sex trafficking and labor trafficking, is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world. An estimated $9.5 billion is generated annually from all trafficking activities, with at least $4 billion attributed to the brothel industry.
Although sex trafficking is one of the major problems our world faces, the media tends to focus less and less on this issue.
Stories of sex trafficking and/or incidents that occur are hardly ever recognized by the media. With the exception of the occasional story of a major bust of a sexual trading industry, sex trafficking is a topic that is rarely covered by most media outlets.
Despite common knowledge about this worldwide problem, sex trafficking continues to occur.
On about average, only one person is convicted for every 800 trafficking cases worldwide. According to the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking, despite an estimated of 100,000 to 150,000 slaves in the U.S., fewer than 1,000 victims have been assisted through the efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement since 2001.
However, the United States has taken major steps in both the prevention of sex trafficking and helping its victims.
Hundreds of governmental and non-governmental organizations have developed with aims at not only preventing trafficking, but also providing aid for victims. Organizations such as Safe Horizon, Polaris Project and the Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking are examples of associations that focus on helping victims of sex trafficking.
As a Jesuit school, Fairfield University can get involved in a number of ways. In Connecticut alone, there are a number of organizations students can get involved with. The Connecticut Coalition Against Trafficking and Project Rescue: Anti-Human Trafficking Project are just two examples of local organizations students can take part in.
Students can organize a fundraiser, an event, or even create a group with the aim of helping victims of sex trafficking.
It does not matter how students choose to help but it is important that we do help. So come on Fairfield, let’s make a difference and get involved!
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