Modern Slavery: Part 3

by Ashli Arispe in Issues, July 16, 2009

The third installment of the “modern slavery” series. It describes the international crisis of the sex trade industry which in reality is sex slavery.

Many films, including the blockbuster hit Taken, features stories about the sex trade industry. It has been estimated that half a million women are annually trafficked throughout the world. How does this happen you may wonder?

Well some are abducted and some are sold.The world is filled with many small impoverished villages where parents sell their children into the industry for a fee. The children are then taken on as indentured servants who never see a penny of the money they make from selling their bodies-it all contributes to their “debt”. Some of these children have more than thirty clients a day. Over a third of these child prostitutes have tested positive for HIV/AIDS. Many become pregnant and are forced to have abortions.The girls are usually locked into the brothels and forced to live with multiple girls in one room. Those who run these “homes” confiscate the girl’s traveling documents to obtain them. The girls are also often beaten if a customer complains(or if they do it themselves). In some instances the girls(and boys) were drugged. Many girls are lured by fake modeling agencies promising them money and a glamorous lifestyle. They often auction off the girls who are virgins-the rates can raise well into thousands and millions of dollars! If the brothels are tipped to agencies they often try to intervene.However, how can you get someone when they are forced into an international business of trafficking?That is the point, that they are often on the move from country to country to keep from getting caught; the women are rotated to keep the agencies off their trail.

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Modern Slavery: Part 2 »

The organized sex industry began in the early seventies. In 1971 the Secretary of Defense,Robert McNamara, recommended that Thailand find a way to bring in tourism to pay the countries debts to the World Bank for loans they had taken out for agricultural development. Robert McNamara was also the head of the very same World Bank. His contribution to the economic initiatives for the country led to a $4 billion dollar per year sex industry. As others saw the success of the sex industry, they too decided to cut in on the action. The industry as a result, spread to South Korea, the Philippines,and Cambodia to say the least. However, the industry ventures out not only internationally but locally with airlines, tourist groups,hotels,banks and bars within each country. It is a collaboration of businesses that make this industry flourish. There are even tours of brothel areas in countries such as Thailand-where business men and tourists are taken. Those who run the airlines, hotels, and bars often tip off the sex traders of girls who are traveling alone and look like a safe bet to abduct into the industry. Robert McNamara’s suggestion to make economic initiatives has taken the sex traffic industry to be exactly that. It is a commodity, it is a business, it is about money-and women are the product. We are not immune. Bombay and Bangkok’s $8 million industry has San Fransisco as one of it’s most largest commercial centers. As I mentioned we ,Americans, take part in these endeavors as well. The Central Intelligence Agency revealed that 14,500 to 17,500 human trafficking victims are passed through the United States a year. This number may be shocking and doubtful but they were based of off 1500 different sources. Some say that this trade will surpass drug and gun trafficking in the years to come.In 2001, a report stated that Asian women were sold for $16000 each! You may say that is a lot-but the truth is that there is no price to put on a woman’s life. This is what sex slavery truly is- it is real and it is right here.