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“Empowering victim survivors of sex trafficking with the opportunity to heal and recapture the most basic of human rights, freedom and hope.”
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Why We Care?This question can be answered on three basic levels. The first is a moral level – we could not, in good conscience, know that girls and young women were being enslaved, exploited, and abused for the gratification of men and not do something about it. Human slavery, let alone sexual slavery, is an indictment against humanity to do something about it. We believe that the travesty of child sex trafficking can come to an end. It will take time and effort. Therefore, it is our responsibility to do what we can to assist the victims of this horrible crime and give them the opportunity for a positive future.The next level is societal. The public health implications of human sex trafficking, as a result of the deplorable conditions that victims are subjected to endure, include sexually transmitted diseases, pelvic inflammatory disease, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. Health implications include not only those related to the victims but also those who frequent brothels, participate in enslaving victims, or are themselves carriers of disease. The same people that carry these health risks return to the United States. |
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| As well, pedophiles, sex tourists, and other criminals are going to a foreign country, where they believe they can act with impunity and without consequence. They return to their home country’s more bold in engaging in child sex abuse, child rape, and violent images of children. This puts everyone at risk, because the most dangerous child predators are honing their craft in another country. The last level is financial. The impact of human sex trafficking is a profitable business of about $7 billion dollars a year. Globalization has created an economic atmosphere, along with a population increase in the developing third world, which strengthens the market for human slavery. Interpol estimated in 2001 that approximately $19 billion was generated by human trafficking, as a whole. Human trafficking, besides being an illegal secondary market, is a bartering market tool for criminals. International criminal organizations use human slaves as an asset to trade for drugs, arms, and other illegal activities. There is no paper trail, which leaves little evidence of their crimes and creates a population of disposable people. The profits from human sex trafficking are closely connected to organized crime and associated with money laundering, child pornography, drug trafficking, and other illegal violations. |
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