: captured by tasha : captured by tears : captured by hope :
"[Sexual] trafficking is simply the global form of prostitution." - M. Farley
"Human trafficking generates an estimated $9.5 billion in annual revenue. It is closely connected with money laundering, drug trafficking, document forgery and human smuggling." - US Federal Bureau Of Investigation.
"...from all trafficking activities, .. at least $4 billion [is] attributed to the worldwide brothel industry." - Trafficking in Persons Report. U.S. Department of State. 2004.
in 2006, germany provided sex shacks, "mega-brothels" and street service to meet "the 'needs' of the men who will attend the World Cup competition" (see Germany's Sex Shacks Tarnish World Cup).
considering our current prostitution laws, Canada is now talking about the decriminalization of brothels.
* Vancouver, British Columbia is host to the 2010 olympic games.
:: some thoughts...
for some reason change is so complicated. at least the kind of change that brings back some sort of value to men, women and children and not further exploitation.
maybe the fact that woman and children shouldn't lose their value as humans based on their life situations (forced or otherwise) is too much of a complicated thought for some but to me, it is a very basic idea. it stuns me to think that a man, after admitting to murdering a [pregnant] woman, walks free in niagara region (please read 'outrage'). and to think he only had one charge - what about the baby? another story though, isn't it? considering society has reduced their lives to nothing more than a mass of tissue and also disposable (see abortion).
may/june08 - a number of demonstrations have occurred around the niagara region asking for an appeal. see 9jun (click).
11june08 - an appeal has been granted!!!
regarding legalizing/decriminalizing prostitution (thus increasing trafficking due to DEMAND - proven in every other nation who has legalized prostitution) and further pushing human beings into the horrors of this "work", we need to increase exit programs for those caught in this horrific world and criminalize the buyers. i continue to wonder why society punishes the women and not the men?! afterall, if there wasn't a demand for prostitution, thus trafficking, would not exist.
read what Senator Mobina Jaffer (link) is saying about this.
"you only get one life. so you've gotta try to make the most of it." - from "Holly"
* click the CanadaCan postcard image below for more information on how to get YOUR voice heard with your local MP.
* click on the Salvation Army's prayer guide to download and pray for sex trafficking victims.
:: some resources...
Slaying The Giant Conference : an anti-trafficking conference put on by Ratanak in the fall in 2007. [conference mp3's]
"Holly" : a Priority Films movie about a Vietnamese girl trafficked into Cambodia and the American man who tries to save her.
one life making a change in one other life.
"there are over 60, 000 child prostitutes in Cambodia" ... "i wasn't trying to help 60, 000 girls... i was trying to help one."
check out Transitions Cambodia, Inc.'s review on this film and then go see it. [locations near you]
"View Shared Hope International?s explosive new documentary, featuring investigative footage of the dark and hidden world of sex traffickers, pimps and buyers. DEMAND. exposes the men who buy commercial sex, the vulnerable women and children sold as commodities, and the facilitators of the sale within the marketplace of exploitation." (- from site.) [the full report.]
does "60,000 child prostitutes" concern you? does it concern you to the point of movement? did you imagine that due to the DEMAND, or "need", both domestically and internationally, 60,000 - CHILDREN - are being raped and exploited every day? and that's just in one country.
"No country is immune from human trafficking. Victims are forced into prostitution or to work in quarries and sweatshops, on farms, as domestics, as child soldiers, and in many forms of involuntary servitude. Traffickers often target children and young women. They routinely trick victims with promises of employment, educational opportunities, marriage, and a better life." - 2004 US Trafficking in Persons Report
:: click here for more resources regarding this and other social justice issues (films, books, etc.).