Human Trafficking Victims: 2.4 Million People Across The Globe Are Trafficked For Labor, Sex

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. crime-fighting office said Tuesday that 2.4 million people across the globe are victims of human trafficking at any one time, and 80 percent of them are being exploited as sexual slaves.

Yuri Fedotov, the head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, told a daylong General Assembly meeting on trafficking that 17 percent are trafficked to perform forced labor, including in homes and sweat shops.

He said $32 billion is being earned every year by unscrupulous criminals running human trafficking networks, and two out of every three victims are women.

Fighting these criminals "is a challenge of extraordinary proportions," Fedotov said.

"At any one time, 2.4 million people suffer the misery of this humiliating and degrading crime," he said.

According to Fedotov's Vienna-based office, only one out of 100 victims of trafficking is ever rescued.

Fedotov called for coordinated local, regional and international responses that balance "progressive and proactive law enforcement" with actions that combat "the market forces driving human trafficking in many destination countries."

Michelle Bachelet, who heads the new U.N. agency promoting women's rights and gender equality called UN Women, said "it's difficult to think of a crime more hideous and shocking than human trafficking. Yet, it is one of the fastest growing and lucrative crimes."

Actress Mira Sorvino, the U.N. goodwill ambassador against human trafficking, told the meeting that "modern day slavery is bested only by the illegal drug trade for profitability," but very little money and political will is being spent to combat trafficking.

"Transnational organized crime groups are adding humans to their product lists," she said. "Satellites reveal the same routes moving them as arms and drugs."

Sorvino said there is a lack of strong legislation and police training to combat trafficking. Even in the United States "only 10 percent of police stations have any protocol to deal with trafficking," she said.

M. Cherif Bassiouni, an emeritus law professor at DePaul University in Chicago, said to applause that "there is no human rights subject on which governments have said so much but done so little."

Laws in most of the world criminalize prostitutes and other victims of trafficking but almost never criminalize the perpetrators "without whom that crime could not be performed," he said.

Bassiouni said the figure of 2.4 million people trafficked at any time is not reflective of the overall problem because "at the end of 10 years you will have a significantly larger number who have gone through the experience."

He urged a global reassessment of "who is a victim and who is a criminal" and called for criminalizing not only those on the demand side using trafficked women, children and men, but all those in the chain of supplying trafficking victims.

In addition, Bassiouni said, "we must change attitudes of male-dominated police departments throughout the world who place this type of a crime at the lowest level of their law enforcement priorities."

General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged donors to contribute to a new trust fund aimed at helping victims of human trafficking.

At the start of the meeting, Fedotov said the U.N. Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking had pledges of around $1 million but just $47,000 in contributions, and he urged those who offered money to send their checks.

At the end of the meeting, Al-Nasser announced three new pledges – $200,000 from Australia, $30,000 from Russia, and 30,000 Euros from Luxembourg – and encouraged other U.N. member states to follow their example.

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Comments

[west699]

04:46 AM on 10/27/2012

Most Anti-Sex Trafficking groups want the public to believe that:

All men are evil, all women are angels:

All men would rape a small child, if given the chance.
All men would get erections and are turned on by children under the age of 18 years old.
All adult men would sexually abuse children, girls, boys, women if only given the chance, and thought they would not be caught.
All men hurt children, only women help children.
All men have these feelings, and act this way because they are men and cannot help it. Therefore strong laws against men must to made to control the evil male population. (of course all males in the world are evil)
If a 5 year old child was crying alone in the street, because she was lost, these groups honestly believe that if a man came across the child first, most men would want to have sex with the child, and charge other men money to have sex rather than help the child. If a woman came across the child they would always help the child.
There is hard factual evidence that most of these groups feel this way. Just the fact that they tell lies that hundreds of millions of men victimize and rape millions of child sex trafficking prostitute victims without any proof, evidence or victims being found proves this.

Here are some good websites for more information about Sex Trafficking:

http://sextraffickingtruths.blogspot.com/

http://bebopper76.wordpress.com

[Rose Verbena]

07:18 PM on 04/06/2012

@ CSDofNM - If removing the testes doesn't complete the job, then remove the adrenal glands, too. You can replace the other adrenal hormones without the testosterone. Better yet, put them on estrogen patches, too. Made them tinkle in a cup at least once per week at random times to test for circulating testosterone and estrogen to make sure that they're not gaming their sentence with testosterone injections. Bottom Line: If males cannot control their urge to rape children -- or to rape women or men, for that matter -- then we need to get creative in figuring out what to do about it and how to STOP them. If we cannot STOP them then they need to be locked up forever in a facility where they CAN NOT rape the other inmates.

Children are not being trafficked for sex with women. We all know this is true. If the criminal cartels had to rely on women as their customer base they'd be better off financially opening a McDonalds franchise or a lawn-care business. They rely on MEN as their customer base because a large minority of men have both the biology (too much T) and the socialization (too little empathy, too little self-control) to become monsters that want to rape younger, weaker, smaller people -- enough that they're willing to pay lots of money and risk destroying their victims' lives, their own lives and the lives of their families in order to do it.

[foresure]

01:12 PM on 04/06/2012

Part III

I know exactly what to do.

Create a situation where you can produce more starving children and keep them alive long enough to reproduce.

My ethics, religion and need to keep my position, forbid me from addressing anything about where starving, impoverished young girls come from.

I will , however, teach you to become more reliant on fossil fuel, and to speed up the deterioration of your environment.

The best I can do is to tell you if you want to transform your country is to remain celibate, and teach you children to do the same.

Google: www.worldometers.info

Google: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Or just "worldometers and just "world fact book"

[Laura Densmore]

07:34 PM on 04/11/2012

Remaining celibate means never having sex, not just waiting until marriage...so how would you have children to teach?

[foresure]

01:09 PM on 04/06/2012

Part II

Let's ask all these agencies:

ONE

Q. Do you have any idea how little girls, to be sold into prostitution, are generated?

A. Apparently not, all these high powered U.N., U.S. bureaucrats and all the PhD's don't know, or are absolutely terrified to mention that they do in fact have knowledge along those lines.

TWO:

Q. Do all the above mentioned "experts" believe that in the heart of hearts, not spoken of course, that desperately impoverished people who cannot feed their children actually feel good about selling their 5 year old daughters into slavery and prostitution?

A. Probably not.

It is just an assumption they need to make to avoid deep cognitive dissonance, and facilitate their job security.

THREE:

Q: Do the above mentioned people ever consider the actual causes of this.

A: Absolutely not. They talk about poverty, poverty, sexism, sexism, evil men, evil men, lack of government control, lack of government control. Ignorance, lack of education and gender inequality.

They are like the doctor saying:

I know exactly what is wrong, and how to cure it.

You have a bad case of pernicious fluxes, and pervasive internal pain.

[DavidEvan]

01:00 PM on 04/06/2012

What does the saying "the world's oldest profession" tell us about prostitution? Brothels should just be legalized and the women and men now underground in the sex trade therefore be made visible. If history tells us prostitution is a constant across time, regardless of legality, then let's deal with human nature rather than pretending to cure it with our judgement about how society should be, but never will be. We've been through the same horrific pseudo-moral nonsense with alcohol Prohibition, drugs and prostitution. Let's just live in the real world for a change.

[Rose Verbena]

07:22 PM on 04/06/2012

In every culture where prostitution is legalized, the rape of children in shadow brothels and the trafficking of children for sex goes UP instead of down. All you do is provide a cover for the pimps and johns to more easily find one another and arrange transactions. The only thing that works is draconian punishment for johns and decriminalizing the prostitutes themselves, thereby making them more willing to come forward for help and services to exit the trade when they're able.

[foresure]

12:59 PM on 04/06/2012

Part I

This Blog, like almost everything that the Main Stream Media reports about social problems misses the point.

This blog is a "clarion call" for more useless behavior, which will yield nothing but more jobs for international social workers.

Now we know that the best way to do that is with pictures, but please, Romanian women in silly outfits?

The "highest and best" use of picture for this type of propaganda is:

Dark skinned children with bloated bellies. Brown skinned little girls in tattered dresses, and dirty hair.

A picture of a bunch of girls living in squalor. That is the accepted standard.

In order not to upset people it does not mention the foreign aid we give to countries that permit child slavery and child prostitution while all the while explaining that they really can't do anything about it. (Like India)

[xenubarb]

11:52 AM on 04/06/2012

Google "Scientology human trafficking child labor."

This is going on right under our noses in America. This cult is under investigation for trafficking, so ask yourself how cynical does one have to be to exploit foreign workers and children while operating a front group called 'Youth For Human Rights.'

[rewith85man]

04:43 AM on 04/06/2012

Nowadays, people really have to be smart and follow their instincts. Once they do something, they cannot turn back time and erase it.

[Blodo]

10:52 PM on 04/05/2012

Sweden has taken a huge step against human trafficking through their laws which decriminalize prostitution itself, but impose very heavy penalties against anyone buying the services of a prostitute. This puts the penalty squarely on the John and not the exploited woman. It's working too, with a sharp decrease in the incidence of prostitution and of human trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation.

[kertbert]

10:03 PM on 04/05/2012

I wonder about those numbers. It is hard for me to imagine. I did read that the women in Saudi Arabia are lobbying the UN to reintroduce having a second woman in the house for cleaning and for a sex partner for their husbands. I know a guy I buy gems from in Northern Pakistan. His wife is much younger than him. I was trying to tell him to be nice to her. I'd hate to be a woman in a Muslim country. But I'd love to have one as a wife as they would be much less trouble than an American /Canadian woman. Men in marriages are between a rock and a hard place in North America unless the couple have respect for one another.

[malibucomposer]

08:07 PM on 04/05/2012

The FBI audit claims there are over 100,000 or more TEEN PROSTITUTES 12-18 years old and considers this a low level priority under that of labor trafficking. How is it possible that our government is more concerned with immigrant laborers being transported over state lines, than teens who are lured into prostitution by pimps. It's unbelievable that we don't value the lives of children who are actually victims. In Las Vegas there are over 400 teens 12-18 in prostitution every night on their streets. Fortunately LV Children's Court Judge William Loy, and the LV Police Department have determined to treat these children as victims and are trying to rehabilitate them and reunite them with their families while pursuing the pimps who prey on them. We nee to educate men who are using teens services that they are risking jail time and to convince them that these kids are someone's children. We need to make the penalty for being with minors in prostitution as a john much more severe. Some estimates are higher than the FBI's and put the number of teen prostitutes in the US at over 300,000. Whatever the true number, whether 100,000 or more. There are only 16 beds in one program in Las Vegas for teens to be taken to if they want shelter. Judge Loy is trying to open shelters and raising funds for more beds. We need to look at trafficking of children in the United States before we preach to other countries.

[Gerald Bowman]

07:25 PM on 04/05/2012

Sex slaves? This characterization is offensive to me. I am the descendant of actual slaves. The overuse of this term is disrespectful to people who endured that horrific, state sanctioned practice.

How many of these prostitutes are voluntarily in the trade due to a lack of opportunity at home? We often hear about the dreadful conditions. There are plenty of brothels (massage paroles etc) in my city (Los Angeles) I have never seen or heard of anyone held in chains...well involuntarily.

Does this issue get overdone? Is this propaganda against the sex trade or reality. It is hard to sort it out. But, many of us are a bit skeptical.

[niko73]

09:51 PM on 04/05/2012

I had a lady the other day say that porn actresses were "slaves." I called her on it, saying that's a huge slap in the face of real slaves. She called me names. Whether it's these folks or Adrian Peterson, I agree the word is way overused.

However, I will say that in some cases, these women are slaves. Look to brothels in Cambodia. The women are not paid and cannot leave under their own free will. If they attempt to leave, they're tortured. Sad.

[Gerald Bowman]

03:51 PM on 04/06/2012

Agreed. Human trafficking is complex. The issue whould not be mixed in with sex work. People eagerly hire "coyotes" in Mexico to transport them across the border. That is human trafficking, too.

To lump sex trafficking with all other forms of human trafficking and sex work generally seems sensationalistic. Most sex workers are not slaves. Everybody knows that. So this whole issue gets marginalized because this whole thing comes across as propaganda.

Calling every sex worker a slave is like calling every murder a holocaust. It actually is an abuse of the word. As horrible and exploitative as much of this treatment of sex workers is it still is not slavery in most instances. It is just a really abusive and exploitative practice. Sex work is/was something an actual slave did/does AFTER working all day."

[Scent]

04:45 PM on 04/05/2012

It is impossible to stop these crimes as long as they make profit for the criminal parasites who use slaves and children for profit. - American corporations.

The so called free market has a very important fault that is installed carefully and not mentioned by anyone: the market is free for money and goods. The borders are closed airtight for accountability however.

If any american board that made ANY profit from slavery and children wpuld go to jail wholesale as they deserved nothing like this culd happen. The only reason we have this is that the criminal parasites that rule the free market can keep their profits and will never be charged with slavers even though they actively use them and instl dictators to spread slavery across the globe.

[BurrRobson]

06:59 PM on 04/05/2012

American corporations are behind human trafficking? GE runs a child porn racket? Nike pimps out 12 year olds? You are still on drugs?

[niko73]

09:53 PM on 04/05/2012

Please. Like there was no child prostitution or slavery before Capitalism and corporations? Gimme a break. You need a serious history lesson.

[Lou Weisenbacher III]

04:16 PM on 04/05/2012

Ummm i'm a democrat. How can i turn these sex slaves into slaves to vote for democrats? Give them free birth control,food stamps,welfare and just act like we are doing something for them.

[Gerald Bowman]

05:15 PM on 04/06/2012

How to get them to vote Republican. Just mention God. And give them the delusion that heir pimps are the real victims, not them. If only the pimp made more income he would treat them better.

[offred]

04:03 PM on 04/05/2012

One of the most egregious offenders is our good buddy Saudi Arabia, where poor people from underdeveloped countries are promised good jobs. Then when they get to Saudi Arabia, their passports are confiscated, they are confined to small living quarters with two dozen other people, and they're not paid wages. Some of the worst offenders are Saudi Arabian contractors under contract to the Pentagon and US war profiteers.



Not that American corporations are guilt free: http://civilliberty.about.com/b/2006/10/17/did-the-bush-administration-promote-sex-trafficking-in-the-northern-mariana-islands.htm

[BurrRobson]

07:00 PM on 04/05/2012

Therefore down with capitalism, and it's Bush's fault. Libs have no boundaries.

[offred]

07:34 PM on 04/05/2012

Capitalism can be a good thing. Right now, bad capitalism is prevalent.