Sex Trafficking
Yes.
Enough with the taboo. Let us discuss
sex trafficking today. Sex trafficking has become the second most lucrative
business in the world, closely tailing narcotics (and followed by fire-arms).
Which means sex trafficking deserves way more of our attention than I can hope
to capture with this article. While you and I sit idly, on internet, bored of
hours of TV, there are people out there, being bought and sold, and used for
sex. They are being bought and sold for about $90/- when people like us are
willing to pay over $150/- for a pure-bred German Shepherd.
“If you were making money off of someone else’s exploitation you
were an exploiter.”
Sex trafficking – whether within a
country or across international borders – violates basic human rights,
including the rights to bodily integrity, equality, dignity, health, security,
and freedom from violence and torture. Key International human rights treaties,
including but not limited to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), consider sex trafficking a form of sex
discrimination and a human rights violation
Elements of
Sex Trafficking:
Act: Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of
persons;
Sex trafficking. The image of a poor, young,
pale little girl, probably in her teens, tied up in a room, beaten black and
blue with bruises comes to mind. Unfortunately all of that is true in about
half the cases. The other girls or women being trafficked are in love with
their trafficker or pimp and these ‘pimps’ take advantage of this and use
subtle coercion rather than outright violence.
Pimps
target vulnerable girls — often runaways, foster children, undocumented
immigrants, and victims of physical and sexual abuse. Targets are
generally ‘recruited’, after being stalked for quite some time, via kidnap,
coercion, persuasion, and con. Then abused and
extorted. Blackmail, manipulation, and/or brainwashing do the trick once the
girl has been recruited. Never, usually allowed to stay in a town for long
stretches of time, the ‘business’ booms in regions hosting famous events.
‘Johns’ matter.
Means:
Threat
or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception*
“WHEN
YOU’RE A PART OF THAT LIFESTYLE, IT’S WHAT EVERYBODY IS DOING, IT BEGINS TO
FEEL NORMAL. VIOLENCE BECOMES NORMAL,
THE DEROGATORY NAMES MEN CALL YOU BECOME NORMAL, THE FEELINGS OF SELF LOATHING
AND SUCH BECOME NORMAL…WHICH IS WHY I GUESS THE DRINKING, DRUGS AND
DYSFUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS BECAME NORMAL” a survivor
recounted her experiences from the days when she gave up the control of her
mind and fell into pimp-controlled street prostitution.
Although alcohol
isn’t usually encouraged (it’s un-ladylike), the women are introduced to
narcotics, to keep them under the grip of
the pimp. They are branded or tattooed, to serve as barcodes (letters POE
for “pimpin’ one eight”, Oklahoma). They are continually threatened on their
families and/or themselves. Instead of receiving any aid, they are registered
as prostitutes and arrested multiple times. The girls’ survival impulse
disables them to seek help beyond all the inhumane torture they are subjected
to, allowing them to be freely manipulated by their pimps.
Purpose: Prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor or
services, or slavery
However
much we may like it, the world is not equal. There are huge disparities be it
economic, cultural, educational, or societal. Some states are jam-packed with
people, cheaply available for labor due to the low conditions of living—
poverty, oppression, lack of human rights, lack of social and economic
opportunities. A few others happen to be well endowed to buy their way through
to all luxuries life can offer, including ‘slaves’. This striking gradient is
used by the exploiters to their great advantage. People with targets painted on
their backs are usually those—
o
Entering a country illegally without
proper documentation
o
Suffering from any physical disease or
mental disability including addiction
o
With reduced capacity to form judgments,
if children
o
In an unsafe and /or unsteady situation
from a social stand-point.
o
Migrating from places of war, militarism,
instability, political/ civil unrest and as such
o
Willing to sell sexual favors to make big
money, fast.
On the receivers’ end, the number of ‘Johns’ is going up by the day.
The more there is increase in demand for paid sex, the more lucrative a
business it becomes to supply the said. And why exactly shouldn’t the numbers
rise? Most civilian protection authorities are not well equipped to recognize
and/or rescue the victims. Pimps do not accompany the escorts, but operate
through a network of people making it near impossible to catch them. When
caught, there aren’t any harsh laws against the Johns, just the girl.
So until the time the authorities come up with
something foolproof, I sincerely do recommend we, the people, not sit idle.
Those girls out there, we can make a huge difference to their lives without
even having to spare an awful lot of our time. If you are a student, teacher, youth leader, or police officer, or if you
work with youth in any way, watch for these signs someone is being trafficked.
You could save a life.
o
New tattoos –
especially a new name or a barcode
o
An older, secret
boyfriend
o
New expensive clothes
or bags
o
Use of different
terminology (e.g.), trick, buyer, the life, the game
o
Sudden change in
dress
o
They may
be controlled or intimidated by someone else (i.e. being escorted or watched)
o
They may
not speak on their own behalf and may not be English/French speaking
o
They may
not have a passport or other I.D.
o
They may
not be familiar with the neighborhood they live/work in
o
They may
be moved frequently by their traffickers
o
They may
have injuries/bruises from beatings and/or weapons
o
They may
show visible signs of torture i.e. cigarette burns, cuts
o
They may
show visible signs of branding or scarring (indicating ownership by the
trafficker)
o
They may
show signs of malnourishment
o
They may
express fear and intimidation through facial expressions and/or body language
The
Invisible Man:
“98% of the victims of trafficking in persons
for the purposes of sex, children or otherwise, are women”, says the
International Labor Association. And till now I have tried to, in my article to
bring to light the horrible lives that are forced upon them. Now, would we dare
think the plight of the 2% men?
The lack of
concern renders male victims invisible. More often than not, what cannot be
seen gets treated as if it does not exist. They have nowhere to go and no one
to turn to. Since no one thinks boys can be victims, their abuse goes
unnoticed. There are the “bacha bereesh,
the dancing boys” in Afghanistan who get kidnapped, raped, and traded amongst
the warlords. There are boys abused abroad as part of sex tourism. There are also
cases involving adult men trafficked for sex.
A Canadian study found that sexually
exploited boys were exploited at younger ages than girls, remained in their
situation longer, and abused more and a greater variety of drugs. The short of
this is that trafficking boys and men for sex is a more common than people
think. The reason why people think boys and men are not victims of sex
trafficking is because no one bothers to look for them. No one bothers to ask
about them. No one bothers to reach out to them. The authorities don’t look.
The rehab facilities have no clue about gender specific programs. Relief
centers and hospitals literally have no beds for them. In the current
situation, one can only hope things get better, and better they get better
fast.
In the meanwhile, I request you, who’ve read this so far with
so much patience (yes, you), do your part to help the heroes who have survived
through this nightmare, get back to their lives in the society. They need our
support, may be above all else.
A devil to drive away. A war to win. Fingers crossed.
Katyayani
Sonti
BITSMUN
Society
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