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Home>Archives for sex trafficking

May 4, 2012 by Shamere

Unavoidable Destiny | The “bottom girl” – victim or criminal?

Although I never physically or psychological abused any of the girls in my “stable,” I am considered a criminal.  Under the direction of my pimp, I upheld the rules and maintained control.  I ensured the girls were working and not sitting down in the club; I made sure the girls were not “out of pocket” (behaving outside the rules and guidelines of the pimp). I had to drive the girls to work, if I refused, I was threatened with death. Yet by driving, I became a criminal and was charged with conspiracy to the Mann Act–driving minors across state lines for illegal commerce.

A bottom girl is almost always emotionally attached to her pimp.  This is referred to at the Stockholm Syndrome–a condition that makes victims empathetic and defend their abusers. A bottom girl is extremely loyal to her pimp. Through manipulation, the pimp allows the bottom girl to feel she is in an intimate relationship with him/her and is not enslaved. The manipulation may simply be a reminder of how much she is loved as the pimp provides food, clothing, and housing for her; a reminder that all her bills are paid and life is easy.  Her compliant obedience to her pimp is not only to make him happy but also out of terror of the outcome if she does not act accordingly.

This is where things get complicated. When law enforcement becomes involved, a bottom girl will initially defend her pimp as she mistakes his abuse as an act of kindness. She defends the pimp’s act of rape, severe beatings, and verbal abuse by blaming herself. She often feels that she deserved what was done to her.

A pimp will convince a bottom girl that law enforcement will not rescue her; they will arrest her and send her to prison. And just like the pimp promised, the bottom girl is often arrested and charged as a co-defendant in a trafficking or prostitution case. She is inclined to believe the lies told to her by her pimp and has no trust in law enforcement.  Having been warned by her pimp and receiving no rescue or services, she becomes unwilling to corporate in the investigation and tries to protect him. Believing that the pimp will be proud of her, she is often willing to accept any charges brought against her.

Anti-trafficking organizations understand that the bottom girl was under the direction of her pimp when she committed crimes.  However, her dual role as a victim and criminal make it complicated for lawyers, prosecutors, and judges to uphold the law while acknowledging her victimization. Yet, justice must be served and the bottom girl is faced with taking responsibility of her own actions despite the circumstances.

Come back next week to learn how Shared Hope has effectively addressed this issue.

April 18, 2012 by Guest

Recent Secret Service Scandal Raises Awareness of Sex Tourism

Recently thrust into the media due to the less-than-honorable actions of some members of President Obama’s Secret Service team, sex tourism has risen to the attention of the global community. Sex tourism, defined as traveling to a domestic or international location with the purpose of purchasing sex, has become a multi-billion dollar industry with some seriously questionable repercussions.
One such repercussion is the proliferation of sex trafficking. Sex tourism increases the demand for commercial sex, enticing traffickers to force women and children into the market to satisfy this demand.  This leads to child sex tourism, which is defined as traveling to a location with the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor.  Although this commercially-facilitated form of child abuse is known to occur in countries with a weak economic structure, it also occurs in the United States on a regular basis.

For example, Las Vegas is a hub for sex tourism, and thus sex trafficking is extremely common.  In a 2008 study performed by Shared Hope, over 400 prostituted children were found in Las Vegas in just one month. Efforts to curb child sex trafficking have made some progress, but the problem continues to plague the area. Fortunately, law enforcement agencies are aware of the strong presence of sex trafficking and tourism in Las Vegas, and are developing measures in similar areas in their communities with the potential to become a hub for sex trafficking. For example, Hollywood Casino Toledo is slated to open in Toledo, Ohio this June, so local law enforcement officers are being trained to identify and address sex trafficking.

Countries with a weak economic structure are popular destinations for sex tourism because buyers can purchase comparatively less expensive sexual services with exotic women, men and/or children, with greater anonymity than if purchasing in their home country. A prime example is India. According to the 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report, “Religious pilgrimage centers and cities popular for tourism continue to be vulnerable to child sex tourism. Indian nationals engage in child sex tourism within the country and, to a lesser extent, in other countries.” Essentially, Indian children are being trafficked in India to provide domestic and international tourists with sex, and Indian adults also travel to other countries to engage in sex with minors.

All forms of sex tourism fuel global sex trafficking. Although the U.S. Secret Service members’ alleged sexual engagement involved adults, their actions are driving the sex tourism industry, thus promoting the brutal commercial sexual exploitation of women and children in the region and around the world.

March 14, 2012 by SHI Staff

Ari’s Story of Hope

Ari’s story begins in Secundrabad, Andhra Pradesh. As an infant, her mother ran from her unfaithful husband and took Ari to live on the streets of Pune, surviving only by begging at the railway station. When Ari was five years old, tragedy struck as the hard street life claimed her mother, leaving Ari alone and desperate.

Ari was adopted by her mother’s friend but was soon sold to a brothel. At first, Ari was used for housework, but at eight years old she was forced into the sex trade. When she refused customers, she was beaten with an iron rod. Her fragile body was not able to tolerate the pain and she became paralyzed on one side. With this condition, she was unable to satisfy the demands of her exploitation and was sent to the hospital for treatment.

Ari recalls a pimp saying:

“If she recovers bring her back if she dies throw somewhere and don’t mention it to anyone.”

While in the hospital, Ari met a social worker who took great pity on her and placed her in a shelter once she recovered. What could have been reprieve proved dangerous. After witnessing the death of three children due to poor care, Ari and a young boy fled the shelter. Ari learned the boy had a 10-year-old sister enslaved in the red-light district of Pune. Ari helped rescue the sister and, with the help of police and a social worker, was able to rescue three other young girls from the brothel.

Alone again, Ari survived by begging on the streets. At 13 years old, she married a street boy, with whom she endured a dangerously violent marriage. When she gave birth to their daughter, Nan, her husband attempted to kill them by dousing them with kerosene and trying to burn them. Her mother-in-law rescued Ari and Nan but they quickly fled to the streets of Pune. With a child and no one to care for them, Ari became desperate and was forced to do what she despised the most, sell sex to survive. During this time, Ari married again and gave birth to a second daughter, Sajni.

In her darkest hour of desperation, help arrived. Our partner in India met Ari and Nan and brought them home to a loving community where they receive spiritual support and education. Though Ari was born into poverty and sold into slavery, she was rescued into freedom. Today Ari and Nan are thriving with the help of Shared Hope and our partner in India.

February 8, 2012 by SHI Staff

“The Life”: What Circumstances Walked Leah and her Sister into this Living Terror?

She was just 12 years old when she was led into “the life” by her 14-year-old half-sister.  After several horrible weeks, she was rescued by police officers — they found her sister in a hotel room, engaged in a sex act with a man, with Leah naked and crouched in a corner, crying hysterically.

What circumstances walked Leah and her sister into this living terror? Did this scenario take place in conjunction with the Super Bowl or another major sporting event?  Was her 14 year old sister one of those youngsters featured on Backpage.com as “young and fresh”? Was life at home simply a rehearsal for the abuse the girls would get on the street?

The arm that wrapped around them and pulled them close…the voice that whispered promises of hope and care…the hand that reached out with belonging…they suddenly turned into hot breath and a vice grip.  No twisting out of its grasp.  The grasp of DEMAND.

Regardless of how they got there, Leah and her sister were taken because young girls are seen as sex plums for the picking-and until there are real consequences for “picking”, there’s no stopping it. DEMAND.

Shared Hope is fighting DEMAND because even one girl is one too many.  Our Protected Innocence Initiative is helping to change laws all over the country and bear down on that demand.  Since December 1, 2011, when the Protected Innocence Initiative was announced, over 60 state laws have been introduced to address all aspects of the thriving marketplace of children for sale for sex. We applaud leadership in Indiana, host of this year’s Super Bowl, who moved aggressively to pass key anti-trafficking legislation in advance of the event.

And we are grateful to you for your encouragement and your support that have made the Protected Innocence Initiative possible and effective! 

November 17, 2011 by SHI Staff

Part 4: Hotels, Planes, and Taxis, Oh My! The efforts to stop facilitating child sex trafficking

The fourth component of the Protected Innocence Initiative is “Criminal Provisions for Facilitators.” Hotels are perhaps one of the most well recognized facilitators in the sex trafficking industry. At hotels young children are taken by their traffickers and sold to dozens of men a night. Airlines and taxis also act as facilitators in the sex trafficking industry.

Through the Protected Innocence Initiative, Shared Hope is providing recommendations on how to strengthen state laws to adequately penalize and criminalize the facilitation of child sex trafficking. These measures include criminalizing the facilitation of trafficking through the state human trafficking law and making the promotion of child sex tourism illegal.

Recognizing the critical role facilitators play in the exploitation of children, some hotels and airlines have taken it upon themselves to no longer act as facilitators in the child sex trade. Here are some of the positive steps hotels and airlines have taken in order to stop child sex trafficking.

Airlines are often used by traffickers to transport their victims to domestic and international locations. Carol Smolenski, U.S. Director of End Child Prostitution, Child Prostitution, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), says that sex tourists fall into two categories “preferential child abusers” or “situational child abusers.” “Preferential abusers” have a preference for having sex with children, while “situational abusers” may not be particularly interested in children, but may try having sex with them to try something new, particularly while abroad. Smolenski believes that the second group may be educated through public awareness campaigns to change their behavior. For instance, in order to discourage child sex trafficking, Air-France runs in-flight videos against child sex tourism. These videos are played on 94 of the airline’s long-distance flights and are viewed by up to 46,000 passengers a day. Ten other airlines have also used the video, though currently no United State’s airlines have agreed to show videos discouraging child sex tourism on their flights.

U.S. airlines have taken a stand to fight child sex trafficking through the “Flight Attendant Initiative” which was designed by Innocence at Risk. The “Flight Attendant Initiative” requires airline personal to be educated on recognizing and reporting human trafficking on flights. Flight attendants also wear wristbands with the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888) so they can report suspicious activity from the air. So far, one third of American Airlines’ 19,000 flight attendants received the training. It is expected the program will soon expand to other airlines.

A second industry that has taken a stand against child sex trafficking is the hotel industry. ECPAT released a document entitled “The Code” that hotels and travel agencies may sign to show they are working to combat child trafficking. Since it’s inception in 1998, 1,030 companies have signed the ECPAT Code of Conduct to combat child sex trafficking, though only six American companies have signed.

These efforts, combined with stronger state penalties for those individuals and organizations that facilitate the sale of children, will help end child sex trafficking. To find out the level of your state’s legal response to facilitators, join us on December 1 when we release all 51 state Report Cards at the National Association of Attorneys General winter meeting in San Antonio, Texas. We hope you’ll tune in the rest of the week for more information on the initiative.

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