About two million children are exploited into the sex trade every year.
I brought children into this dark world because it needed the light that only a child can bring.
—Liz Armbruster, wife, mother, and grandmother
INDIA: SEVEN-YEAR-OLD SACHI AND her mother live together in a brothel in Calcutta. Because they share only one small room, Sachi is forced to stay under the bed while her mother is “servicing” customers. When Sachi is old enough, she will no longer be allowed to live in the small room free of charge but will be forced to service clients like her mom does.
Africa: Asabi is only ten. She walks into the brothel alone. She isn’t too worried; she knows her mom will be waiting outside for her when she is “finished.” In Asabi’s culture, everyone must do what they can to help support the family—even if that means exchanging sex for money.
Ukraine: Karina is packing her belongings to leave the orphanage. She just turned sixteen and has “aged out” of the system. She knows the stories about orphanage employees alerting traffickers when girls are released, but what can she do? As she leaves the security of the orphanage, she will need to find food, work, and a place to live—all on her own. Alone and vulnerable, Karina is a prime candidate for being lured by a trafficker.
Cambodia: The village of Svay Pak is commonly referred to as a brothel village and has the disturbing reputation as a destination for sex tourism. It is rumored that foreigners take advertised sex tours to the village for the sole purpose of engaging in sex with children.
Photo: Alisa Jordheim, Svay Pak, Cambodia
“Buying sex with a twelve-year-old girl in Cambodia takes less time and effort than changing money in a bank or paying a telephone bill. … [These kids spend their days in] shophouses where you will be offered “boom-boom”—sex—and “yum-yum”—oral sex—for five dollars a time in cramped, clammy rooms and makeshift plywood cubicles.”
—A journalist from the streets of Svay Pak
USA: Maria was twelve when her dad left the family. Soon after, her mom started sleeping with men to bring in money. “I saw the men coming and going, but they didn’t touch me. My room was safe.” Maria said. “Safe until Mom started sending men to my room to have sex with me instead of her.”
USA: “I hate you!” yells thirteen-year-old Shalonda as she runs out the door. Walking to the gas station just down the street, she meets “Selfish.” In two minutes, he knows her name and every detail of the fight with her mom. “Hey, I know a way you can get some money and really make your mom mad,” he says. That’s all it takes—Shalonda agrees to go with him and enters into a life of commercial sexual exploitation.
USA: Carrie didn’t know that Jill was a “plant” to lure her out of the youth shelter and into the hands of a trafficker. Jill seemed so interested in Carrie, asking about her family, friends, and even if she had a boyfriend. All of it was a setup to gain Carrie’s trust in an effort to exploit her.
The stories are endless, the scenarios varied—but the problem is the same. Child sex trafficking isn’t happening just “over there”—it’s everywhere. About two million children are exploited into the sex trade every year.1 This is a crime that affects every nation, including America.
Why is child sex trafficking growing so quickly? The global sex trade is big business—really big business. A Child Wise report on child sex trafficking shows it is the largest form of human trafficking in the world, with the majority of victims being young females between the ages of ten and eighteen.2
Why are children being targeted for commercial sex worldwide? Poverty, vulnerability, marginalization—there are a number of factors but no single answer. Each nation has its own set of cultural practices that, unintentionally, advance this crime. In some nations, children are marginalized, being valued only for what they contribute to the family. This devaluing leads many relatives to sell their children into the sex trade to provide income for the family. Child marriage is another potential cultural driver, with one-third of the world’s girls married before the age of eighteen and one in nine before the age of fifteen.3 Countries that have legalized child marriage are generally more lenient toward adults having sex with children. In some parts of the world that have high HIV infection rates, such as Africa, India, and the Caribbean, there is a dangerous belief that having sex with a virgin cures AIDS. This superstition is leading to the sex trafficking of babies and children for the practice of “virgin rape.”4
“Sometimes our men in this culture have ‘bad manners’ and have sex with children.”
—The head of social welfare in an African country5
Child sex trafficking in America might not be as visible as it is in some countries, but do not be fooled. It is a very real and growing problem in the United States—one that is not going away until we openly and honestly address the issue, and dispel the myth that American children are safe from commercial sexual exploitation. If we do not recognize the vulnerability of American children, a trafficker will.