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The Trafficking & Exploitation of Children:
A Pandemic of Global Proportions.
It is very difficult for many of us to grasp how anyone could brutalize young children, and exploit them commercially to satisfy the lascivious desires of an enormous and perverted consumer market. Yet this depraved element of humanity now feeds on one of the most lucrative industries in the world—the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children. Child advocacy and other human rights groups estimate the human trafficking industry grosses many billion of dollars each year, and is the third largest source of income for organized crime next only to illicit weapons and drugs. Unlike weapons and drugs, however, a human being is to organized crime a commodity that keeps earning income, day-after-day. We consider human trafficking, especially the exploitation of children, to be a true global pandemic.
It is currently estimated that many millions of children are enslaved or involved in illegal prostitution, child pornography, and the trafficking of children for other purposes, such as servitude and the burgeoning trade in human organs, and that the numbers are increasing each year by at least 1.2 million worldwide. But it’s almost impossible to calculate accurate figures because we don’t have adequate access to reliable statistics in African countries, for example, or in countries like Brazil. But the tragic practice of child trafficking and sex tourism is now widespread because of the enormous profits involved for major organized crime.
The demand is not just for girls but for boys too. Some of these unfortunate children are very young, and are in sordid demand for their virginity fetching high prices from the traffickers’ clientele. Many are cast out into the streets when their usefulness is over, left to fend for themselves in unfamiliar cultures or surroundings. Many will die alone in the alleys of some foreign town from disease, dehydration, and starvation. In some cultures, especially in Southern Africa, men infected with HIV or suffering from AIDS believe that having sex with a virgin child will cure them of their disease.
The collateral damage to children from this industry manifests itself in the form of horrific diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and venereal diseases, contracted as a result of prostitution. The enormous long-term physiological and psychological effects on children who are used for child pornography and prostitution are devastating.
Many of the children are true orphans but an alarming number are referred to as “throw-away” kids—unwanted by parents with large families in extremely poor cultures. In some cases, children—especially young boys—resort to prostitution in order to support large and impoverished families. An alarming percentage of these children contract serious illnesses including HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis.
These are kids without much hope, and many have lost their sense of self-worth becoming inured to the violence and sexual abuse they experience, often multiple times a day. Most gravitate towards urban gangs in search of a “family” of some kind, living on the streets, sleeping in train stations, bus stations, under bridges, in filthy alleys, and even in sewers. They mostly succumb to prostitution and petty crime with all the inherent dangers. Many resort to sniffing glue, drinking, and taking other drugs to try and find some respite from the reality of their situation. Most of these children will experience violence and abuse at the hands of pimps, organized criminals, and the feral street cultures in which they often find themselves. Many will not survive without direct intervention.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS:
Although poverty is without doubt one of the major contributors to child sexual exploitation, it is not the only one. Orphaned children from regional wars or disasters (like tsunamis and earthquakes) are extremely vulnerable to traffickers who see every child as a highly profitable asset. Yet poverty remains the major causal issue in the plight of homeless and endangered children. While many children in inner-city street cultures are true orphans, an alarming number are referred to as “throw-away” kids—unwanted by parents with large families in extremely poor cultures. And in some cases, children—especially young boys—resort to prostitution and petty crime in order to support large and impoverished families. But the consequences for these kids are often horrific. Most will contract HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and venereal diseases as a result of prostitution. At the very least, they will suffer from severe malnutrition and physical abuse from their peers or the criminals who exploit them. A lot of street kids sniff glue to find some mental respite from the sordid reality of their existence. And many will resort to stronger drugs such as heroin. We have seen this in children as young as six years old!
As cultures change due to geo-political, ethnic, or economic situations, children often become collateral damage. There are also thousands of children at risk in the former communist countries of Eastern European and the Caucasus, as well as Russia, while the trade in sex with children between the Czech Republic and Germany has been in progress for years. India, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos are well known as destinations for sex with children. And countries in Central and South America—particularly Brazil—are dealing with the issue of child exploitation on a scale almost unimaginable.
The fight against child trafficking is fraught with difficulties and is not without its dangers since a large measure of the traffic is in the hands of major organized crime, particularly in Europe. In countries with struggling economies, or where poverty is rampant, the allure of profits can be too much for local police authorities and, in many cases, the people to whom victims turn for safety or justice are themselves in the pay of unscrupulous predators. One has to put this in perspective: in some countries for example, average incomes amount to mere hundreds of dollars a month or even a year, so a policeman or local administrator offered kickbacks worth many thousands of dollars is very likely to succumb to such bribery, and ignore what goes on within his local jurisdiction.
While THE ENDANGERED CHILD FOUNDATION’s prime mandate is the rescue, safety, and rehabilitation of exploited and endangered children, it also helps funds the work of IACAC, the International Agency for Crimes Against Children, in combatting child trafficking and sexual exploitation, and advocating for justice on behalf of victims. We are supported in these endeavors by PROGENY, INC., in the United States, a public charity. IACAC relies to a large measure on its ability to function independently, unencumbered by the bureaucratic and political restraints of many government bodies. Yet IACAC recognizes the sincere role played by the governments of many countries (those for example who are considered as Tier 1 countries under the TIP* reporting standards) that respect the various treaties they have signed and ratified for the interdiction of child exploiters and traffickers.
However, it is IACAC’s informed belief that insufficient resources—both financial and tactical—are being applied to the issue of child sexual exploitation by today’s governments and international quasi-political organizations. With an ever-increasing risk from international terrorism and economic woes, this is understandable to a certain extent. But the collateral damage to endangered children is enormous: conservative estimates put the rise of child sexual exploitation at the rate of 1.2 million children each year. The operative word here is “rise”—we are not yet winning this battle.
The seriousness of this issue has been grossly underestimated, especially in the United States. The figures reflected in various reports (including the TIP Report of 2010) seem to rely heavily on statistics contradicted by those we have garnered empirically—that is, from actual first-hand experiential data. The disparity is enormous. Admittedly, one of the reasons that truly accurate data are not available is due in part to inadequate intelligence gathering, and also to the use of cyberspace by today’s subcultures of child pornographers, sex tourism operators, and child prostitution rings. Ever-evolving advanced technologies that make global communication so effective today also serve as tools for those involved in criminal activities to remain virtually anonymous.
While IACAC puts the safety and rehabilitation of exploited children first, and does everything in its power to facilitate the truly heroic work of child welfare organizations around the world, it recognizes that the “demand” side of the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children is far more manageable, albeit challenging, than the “supply” side which is a direct result in most cases of poverty and ignorance, both formidable factors in the world today. Restricting the activities and the interdiction of would-be child predators—be they individuals or organized crime rings—forces the compromised “supply” side to seek other venues for monetary gain and survival.
It is argued that attacking this “demand” side serves only to drive the subculture deeper underground. IACAC’s response is that it is already too late; the child sex industry is well-funded, well-established, and technologically well-protected. It is already deeply ensconced underground employing the services of some of the world’s most adept IT experts and programmers whose task is to protect and suppress the clandestine operations of organized traffickers at all costs. Even at the arguably more “benign” level, any consumer of child pornography can quickly learn how to obfuscate their activities by frequently erasing hard drives, data logs, and computer caches. In fact, a wealth of free software is available online for just such purposes.
Our only hope is to stay, if not ahead of these subcultures, then at least abreast of them. Minimizing the “demand” side has an exponential effect on the collateral damage to children this insidious industry inflicts. This is why we need your help…to assist IACAC in its important fight against the trafficking and exploitation of children. Please donate today.
* U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report