The Effects of Sex Trafficking There are approximately 20 to 30 million slaves in the world today, around 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation. The victims of sex trafficking are forced into prostitution, to appear in pornographic material, and to work as exotic entertainers. Every year young women are often tricked, kidnapped, or forced to enter prostitution. Although sex trafficking is most common in countries such as Thailand, India, Cambodia, and Mexico; between 14,000 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the US each year.
While billions of dollars can be made, human sex trafficking affects millions of people all around the world. The fact that people actually condone this act is sickening. As a nation, we all must step up and put an end to this despicable act by spreading the word and facts about human sex trafficking. No one should be in the conditions that these people are forced through. because they have limited access to basic necessities, diseases and STDs are transmitted, and the victim’s mental health is affected.
“Globally 4. 5 million people are victims of sex trafficking. 0% which are women and children” (“Sex Trafficking. ” Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2016. Student Resources in Context, link. galegroup. com/apps/doc/EJ2181500289/SUIC? u=fair41506&xid=a8361b27. Accessed 3 May 2017). Since the 1840’s women and children have been lured into this act, either by their own family members, friends, or random people they meet online or on the streets. By the 1900’s the selling of women became a global issue.
The most common issue was the “White Slave Traffic” affecting European who travelled down to the United States and were forced into the trade. On May 18,1904, the “International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic” was signed in Paris outlining nine articles to secure the safety of women travelling outside of their country… With the issue being so prevalent in many countries, as of May 4, 1949, 25 countries signed the Protocol of Amendment in order to keep secure the safety of women during their entrance into countries” (Thomas, Amy. “Refugees and the Roots of Sex Trafficking. ” Washington State University, 2016. Web. May 3, 2017).
Victims are promised jobs, such as starring in a movie or becoming a model, but in reality they are forced into having sex with different people for the sake of money they don’t even get to keep. The average age someone enters this trade are between the ages of 12 and 14; many victims are runaway girls who were sexually abused as children. “The International Labour Organization estimates that women and girls represent the largest share of forced labor victims with 11. 4 million trafficked victims (55%) compared to men who have 9. 5 million victims (45%)” (DO Something. “11 Facts About Human Trafficking. ” Web. 3 May 2017).
The US department believes that 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders. Another big problem is that it has a huge impact on nationwide employment and the labour market, which impedes on national and international economic growth; meaning that human trafficking will one day surpass the drug and selling of guns. The sad truth about sex trafficking is that anyone can be a victim, no matter the age, gender, ethnicity, or nationality. Being involved in such acts leads to serious consequences such as; getting HIV/AIDS, other health issues and victims being limited to a certain amount of basic necessities.
Once they get lured into the sex trade, they do not have enough resources to go around all the women and children living in one house, they may even be sleeping in one bed or no bed at all. They lack water and important nutrients, such as calcium, carbohydrates, fat, protein, vitamins, and nutrients. Many of them may even get pregnant, and if they don’t have enough nutrients for themselves, what makes you think they can support a baby growing inside of them? They lack safety, shelter, medical care, and clean clothes. Not being able to change their clothing, most of them wear the same clothing for many years.
They live in dirty places, not being able to clean themselves right, which leads to disease being spread. Tuberculosis, hepatitis, malaria, and pneumonia are some of the few disease you can contact. Considering that the victims are just used for sex, it’s highly possible they could contract some type of sexual disease since they have sex with so many people. This is why traffickers usually go for virgins, because they know they don’t already have the disease and it’s less likely to get spread. Not only can they contract sexually transmitted disease, they can also have severe health problems and physical problems.
Victims experience anxiety, fear, insecurity and trauma. Studies show that victims can even have high Post – Traumatic Stress Disorder. Being a victim also leads to cognitive impairment, memory loss, depression and even suicide. They experience social ostracism, meaning they often feel isolated from individuals and they aren’t able to engage socially or get the help they deserve. They are unable to be around certain people, they are in constant fear that something like that may happen again. Sex trafficking not only affects the victims, but the people involved in that person’s life.
A victim’s mother may be looking for her daughter for many years and may experience stress, anxiety, and guilt. She may feel guilty because she may think she was the reason why her daughter isn’t with her anymore. Maybe if she did something to better protect her child from that or kept a closer eye on her she would still be with her. But as I stated above, no one knows if they will be the victim of it and since it really isn’t talked about in schools or on the media, no one really knows what to look out for and signs. Approximately a slave costs 90 dollars. “Each year this trade profits 32 billion dollars, 15. billion dollars is made in industrialized countries” ((DO Something. “11 Facts About Human Trafficking. ” Web. 3 May 2017).
If we all come together and stop this abhorrent act, that 32 billion dollars can go into something that actually matters, like education; instead that money is going into buying women for people’s pleasure. Since countries have different ways on handling sex trafficking, it’s hard to settle on at least one solution. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), a law passed in the United States in 2000, focuses on the prevention of sex trafficking, protection of the victims, and the prosecution of the traffickers.
The TVPA has been updated at least two times in the past couple of years, the most recent being in 2015. “Numbers released by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center suggest that also holds true in the U. S. , where more than 4,000 cases of sex trafficking were reported” (Alvarez, Priscilla. “Sex Trafficking Goes Unnoticed in America. ” The Atlantic, 2016. Web. 3 May 2017). These numbers compared to the 17,500 victims of sex trafficking in the United States is a little scary.
The great difference of these two numbers is quite scary, this shows that we haven’t really been paying attention to the signs because they are clearly everywhere. Eliminating human trafficking requires focused and serious action by countries of origin, transit, or destination. You must realize the signs of a victim of human trafficking. Some signs include, the person is not able to tell you where they live, has few or no personal possessions, is not able to speak by themselves. They may avoid eye contact, may not speak for themselves. These are just some of the warning signs you might notice about a victim.
