It may come as surprise to learn that people don't have to
travel to Thailand, Jamaica or Mexico City to encounter child
prostitution; it's right here in America.
Most large U.S. cities house populations of child
prostitutes, kept there under the control of pimps to
satisfy increasing demand for their sexual services. Groups
of these children travel to venues - the Super Bowl for
example - as child prostitution road-shows, in
response to demand for them.
These kids come from neighborhoods like yours -
runaways, children and young teens kidnapped from the street
(from outside the mall or movie theatre) or grabbed while on
vacation, chatted up on-line, answering an ad for a job -
who are rarely, if ever, seen again.
Befriended, romanced, beaten and abused by their pimp they
learn to rely on him to survive. And survival is what this
sexual slavery is all about, as the pimps have the power of
life, death or trade over them. They coerce the child (from
8 to 17 years old) to work whenever and wherever they - the
pimp - please.
And not just in America; the demand for sex with children is
filled in cities all over the world; in Europe, Canada,
Australia, Asia, India - just about anywhere you can
think of. What we may have
thought was a horror endured in far-off places, survives and
thrives right down the street from where we live. What's
more disturbing is how easy it is that these lost children could
be our own. Sometimes they are.
-
300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk every year for
commercial sexual exploitation. - U.S. Department of
Justice
-
An
estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are
trafficked into the United States each year. The number of
U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even
higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at
risk for trafficking into the sex industry. – U.S.
Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney
General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat
Trafficking in Persons
-
Investigators and researchers estimate the average
predator in the U.S. can make more than $200,000 a year
off one young girl. – NBC Report by Teri Williams
-
600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across
international borders each year; 50% are children, most
are female. The majority of these victims are forced into
the commercial sex trade. – U.S. Department of State,
2004, Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington, D.C.
-
An
estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them
girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar
commercial sex industry – UNICEF
Child
Trafficking information Links
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Prostituted Children in the
United States: Identifying and Responding to America’s
Trafficked Youth (Video)
Shared Hope International’s National Report on Child Sexual
Slavery in America
- Download pdf at bottom of page
Shared Hope International
-
Leading a worldwide effort to eradicate child sexual
slavery. Prevent, Rescue, Restore
2009 Trafficking in Persons Report
(175 countries
reviewed) - U.S. Dept of State - The 2009 Trafficking in Persons
Report on 175 nations is the most comprehensive worldwide
report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms
of trafficking in persons. (pdf or html)
ECPAT
-
International child advocacy group focusing on the problems
of child prostitution, child pornography and trafficking of
children for sex ECPAT has Special Consultative Status with
the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC)
Child Trafficking
Digital Library pertaining to international child
trafficking: accumulated knowledge, skills and experience on
a global platform. International resource since 1999
Children for sale
- MSNBC
Human Trafficking.org
- A web resource for combating human trafficking
Terminology
(CSEC Terminology)