Human trafficking is the third most profitable criminal activity
nationally and in the world.
It is superseded only by the trafficking of weapons and drugs.
Human trafficking generates $32 billion in the US alone annually and $150 billion globally. While sex trafficking is largely associated with girls and women, young boys are just as likely to be trafficked as girls, just for other purposes.
Globally, boys are trafficked for army recruitment or labor – girls are trafficked for forced marriage and prostitution.
Families abroad undergoing crises such as poverty, starvation, or lack of resources are more likely to be coerced into selling their children into human trafficking, often not realizing the true abuse their children will face.
Human trafficking can also include domestic servitude and organ trafficking; most of this is organized and executed through the dark web.
50% of people trafficked globably are children. Most are forced into commercial sex trade.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services estimated that between 240,000 and 325,000 children are at risk for sexual exploitation each year
There are also an estimated 14,500-17,500 foreign nationals that are trafficked into the US annually.
Tonya’s story;
She was 13 years old when she met her future abuser. Eddie lived in the same apartment complex that Tonya lived in with her mother. He was charming, kind, and made her feel special. Tonya and her mother had been experiencing difficulties in their relationship, so she was eager to have an adult take a special interest in her. They eventually lost contact.
When Tonya was 15 years old, she ran into Eddie again. She had run away from her mother to escape abuse at home. Eddie took advantage of Tonya’s age and emotional state and convinced Tonya to move in with him. For a while, Tonya took care of Eddie’s kids, cooked, cleaned, and had a relatively uneventful relationship with him.*
One night while out at a bar together, Eddie pressured Tonya into having sex with a man for money. He told her “if you love me, you’ll do this. It’s just one thing. Just try it.” Having no other person to turn for comfort or support, Tonya gave in, thinking it would be a one-time thing.
It wasn’t.
Eddie began taking Tonya to bars nightly where being raped by men became a nightly routine. The emotional and psychological effects were brutal. “Being able to sleep with that many people and live with myself and get up every day and keep doing it and just lying there being helpless is so hard.”
*Tonya was 15 and lured into a relationship with a 30+ year old man… this was not a consensual relationship.
National Human Trafficking Hotline
GET HELP for you or someone you know:
CALL: 1-888-3737-888
TEXT: #BeFree
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
CALL: 1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678)
Report to the CyberTipline: www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline
This article submitted by KARA writer Sam Foerderer
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