trafficking

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Human Trafficking - Monday, April 30, 2012 By Darian Gardner Advertising Every day young girls and women fall victims to the charm of people who would use them. In this article I am going to discuss the facts and tragedies of human trafficking. A lot of what I write will shock you and even break your heart. I am writing this because people fall victims to human trafficking everyday and everyone should hear about this because what if it happens to you. Most of the girls that have been taken come from good homes and are not just runaways. When you hear the word prostitute what do you think of? You think of women dressed in vulgar clothing and them selling themselves for money. But have you looked at the whole picture? Over half the women in prostitution are forced to sell themselves. And because of this the world looks down on them. They never asked for that, but they’re to afraid to ask for help because they are afraid for their lives. Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, but it is the second largest criminal enterprise in the world. Human trafficking is often run by organized crime. As of this moment it is estimated that 27 million people are trapped in slavery. It is also estimated that there 13 million children trapped in slavery this very moment. Here are some very shocking statistics. It’s said 75% of human trafficking is for sexual exploitation and approximately 17-80% of human trafficking is for sex. 75% of all victims of human trafficking are female. Over 50% of all human trafficking victims are children. They say that over 71% of trafficked children show suicidal tendencies. Even though human trafficking is often a hidden crime and accurate to obtain, researchers estimate that 30,000 victims of sex trafficking die each year from abuse, disease, torture, and neglect. Eighty percent of those sold into sexual slavery are under 24 and some are as young as 6 years old. What these women go through are horrible and this happens in your neighborhood. Sex traffickers use a array of ways to “condition” their victims, including subjection them to starvation, rape, gang rape, physical abuse, beating, confinement, threats of violence toward the victim and the victims family, forced drug use and shame. You think why don’t they just leave and get help. The truth is they want to get help, but they can’t because they are held against their will. Most of the time their families don’t know what happened to them. Also you often think that this happens in other countries, but it happens here too. The most trafficking in the United States occurs in New York, California, and Florida. Trafficker will also “recruit” handicapped young girls, such as those suffering from Down syndrome into the sex industry. They often prey on young children because they are not only vulnerable and unsuspecting, but there is a high market demand for them. When I read all this I got sick to my stomach. I kept thinking that it wasn’t fair that those girls have to live through that, but at the same time what can I do. Even though I might not be able to help the girls that are being held captive at this moment I can still spread the word about this subject to warn girls of all ages. No woman should have to suffer through this and we need to make sure women and even men of all ages know they could end up subjected to this if we don’t stand up and get out of our comfort zone and share the facts with people so they understand the severity of this. Hollywood makes movies about this and people see them, but don’t take it seriously and they just think of it as another movie. What most people don’t know is that human trafficking happens every day and possibly even in your neighborhood. You need to spread the word about human trafficking because what if this happens to a friend or even a loved one. We all need to be on guard.