This post is regarding modern slavery and children. It is one of the most difficult aspects of human trafficking for me that children are involved. The reprehensible fact that they are bought and sold with no regard to their inherent humanity is appalling. They are treated as mere property with no respect for their innocence, their potential, or their right to become what they will. This problem is massive. It is impossible to pin down exact numbers due to the illicit and nebulous nature of human trafficking, but of the estimated 30 million people in slavery in the world today, around 13 million are children. There are currently more children in slavery than there has been at any other point in history.
Here are just a few disturbing facts on children being exploited by the commercial sex industry from Rescue Her. ( http://www.rescueher.org/get-the-facts)
* Commercial sexual exploitation of children occurs when individuals buy, trade, or sell sexual acts with a child. It is estimated that there are currently nearly 2.5 million children worldwide exploited in the commercial sex industry.
*The US Department of Justice has reported that the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution in the United States is 12.
* An estimated 14,500-17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the US each year. The trafficking of citizens within the country is much larger with about 100,000 US children trafficked and exploited in the commercial sex industry yearly.
The scope and scale of this industry is difficult to fathom and it is personally overwhelming to me. Fed by greed it brings in BILLIONS of dollars every year. Consider this shocking quote:
“It’s all about the money. Human trafficking is insanely profitable. If you really think about it, you can sell a kilo of Heroin once; you can sell a 13-year-old girl 20 times a night, 365 days a year.” And you should feel a little outraged about this. You should feel upset about this. And that’s great – but it’s not good enough.” ~ Tony Talbott
"My wife and I recently decided to give all of the royalties from my previous book, Crazy Love, to a fund called the Isaiah 58 Fund. All of the money goes to the needy in the world—the starving, sick, impoverished, and to those in the sex slave trade.... I was a bit shocked and discouraged by some of the responses we received.
People told us that we were being foolish and irresponsible with the gifts that God gave us. They said we should have at least put some away in case of an emergency. My response back was,
“Is it not an emergency that children in Cambodia and Thailand and even the U.S. are being raped every single day of their lives? Why is that not an emergency?” I think the church often inadvertently teaches that this is not an emergency. And this, I believe is sin. Is an emergency only an emergency if it affects me and my immediate family?"
When will this become an emergency to us? How close do we have to come to it before it is an emergency? When it is a child that lives in our area? When it is a child that our kids go to school with? When it is a child in our neighborhood? When it is a child in our own family?...
How close does it have to get before it becomes so real in our minds that we can no longer close our eyes and pretend it doesn't exist?
How close until we feel a so compelled to do something that we are unable to go on living our daily lives as though the children being brutalized don't exist?
How close does it have to get until we are impassioned enough to shake off the shackles of apathy and we go no holds barred to end this scourge?
With an issue so dark, and so massive it is easy to become overwhelmed by it. If we allow ourselves to think of the millions currently exploited, it can be a paralyzing thought. It seems hopeless. But we must not let our inability to save everyone at once stop us from doing what we can to start. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, and ending the blight of children exploited in the commercial sex trade has to begin where we are at. Here are some "first steps" to take:
1. Become aware, and then spread awareness. Bring this shadowy evil into the light.
2. Know the signs to watch for so that you can recognize a victim if you see them. Here is a link to list of signs
http://www.rescueher.org/indicators-of-trafficking
3. Partner with existing organizations working towards rescuing children in slavery and protecting children who are at risk for trafficking. Here is a link to Destiny Rescue's 26 second challenge, one of the many organizations out there fighting for justice.
http://www.destinyrescue.org/us/get-involved/programs/26-second-challenge/
Once you begin, don't let it end with first steps. There will always be more to learn and more awareness to spread. Remember when you are taking the time to decide what you will do with what you have learned that you have the freedom to choose your course of action, the victims of slavery are given no such liberty. Then steel yourself for the long haul for abolishing the modern slave trade is a colossal mountain to conquer.
"The victims of injustice in our world do not need our spasms of passion;
they need our long obedience in the same direction -
our legs and lungs of endurance; and we need sturdy stores of joy."
- Gary Haugen, IJM
No comments:
Post a Comment