This June I went with the high school summer trip to Phnom
Pehn to work with children who are at high-risk for being trafficked into the
sex industry, or who are currently being sold for sex. The trip has made an impact on my thinking and worldview. I have asked more questions and sought to discover more answers about the reality of this industry. I write what I have learned below.
The average age of the children in the sex industry is 12-14, but these are
the numbers given by the people who “own” them. In a village in Cambodia, the
bloodstained pajama pants of a 7-year-old girl were found in a brothel after a
raid. We learn that some children are younger.
What I have realized since my time in Cambodia is that it is
not just a “third-world” or Asian problem. Human trafficking is the fastest
growing industry in the world. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
And that growth is happening throughout European countries as well as in the United
States.
Why is it so successful? Its success comes from the strong
mafias controlling the system throughout the world. These are powerful men who
are able to payoff taxi drivers, officials at borders, document forgers, and
the “slaves’” new owner.
These men also make sure to control their victims through
brutal forms of psychological and physical abuse. They don’t want their
valuable commodities escaping from their possession.
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Human trafficking is modern-day slavery
and the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. There are many aspects
and different pockets to what we call the “human trafficking industry." Generally
speaking, human trafficking is when people of any age are forced to work or
have sex because they have been tricked, sold, or coerced into this life.
The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people are
trafficked every year. The U.S. State Department estimates an even higher number: about 12.3
million adults and children "in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced
prostitution around the world."
No less than 55,000 women and children
are sex slaves in Cambodia, 35 percent of which are younger than 18 years of
age.
Human trafficking starts when the
traffickers notice those who are vulnerable.
Some are vulnerable because they live
in the countryside, their families are poor, and their parents need a way to
make money. Much of the time in Cambodia, parents have agreed to sell their
children.
Other victims are taken because they
are tricked into thinking that there is a chance for a better life in another
part of their home country or in another country altogether. When they go with
these people, they discover the reality of the horrifying life they have
entered.
Others have already been physically
abused and think if they can make money to sell themselves, why not do it?
But when you become a slave, you don’t
get to keep the money. Traffickers and pimps often keep the money and beat their
property until the slaves can no longer hope to ever escape.
This criminal-industry is experiencing rapid growth worldwide because human
traffickers are realizing that they can make more money if they sell girls than
they can if they were merely selling drugs. Traffickers see that they can only
sell drugs once – and then, the sale is finished. But, if you sell girls, they can
be sold many times each night they work, and they can continue to work this job
for 6-8 years.
Currently, Cambodia’s illegal sex trade
generates $500 million a year. In the
United States, sex trafficking brings in $9.5 billion
annually. According to the United Nations, sex
trafficking brings in an estimated $32 billion a year worldwide.
With such a huge problem all around the
world – men, women, and children being used as slaves, being bought and sold as
if they were a pair of underwear at the market – I want to ask, how am I
going to respond to this information?
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
