YATW Blog #1: Sex Trafficking in India

The Not For Sale organization helps victims of Human Trafficking.

Hello my name is Kayla Cassumba and I am a freshman at Science Leadership Academy in Ms. Dunn’s 9th grade English  class. We were given a year long project called You and the World (YATW). For this project we had the option of choosing an issue in the world that we are interested in knowing more about. The following is the issue I have chosen: sex trafficking. Now you might ask why does a fourteen year old girl want to know about sex trafficking , such a harsh issue that I have probably never experienced? And my answer is that there are other fourteen year old girls going through tribulations and anguish that I can not even imagine. So the least I can do is educate myself and others to try understand the best I can.

According to United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime Human trafficking (which includes sex trafficking) is defined as :

“ the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

This is an international issue that affects men, women, and children. After reading an article in the NY Times , I decided to  choose India as the country I want to focus on because of its highly concentrated sex trade which contributes sex trafficking to be the “third largest global crime.”  In March of 2013, India’s Parliament passed a law making sex trafficking a criminal offense. “But the gap between enactment and enforcement remains unacceptably wide.”

There are many  techniques on the enslavement of women and children. This can range anywhere from gender discrimination to poverty. They promise these women well paid jobs  in order to support their poor families. Soon these innocent girls end up in this lucrative  trade that  will never escape their minds.  The sex traffickers abuse their victims physically, psychologically, and emotionally.The amount of women and children being trafficked just in India is enough for a recent article to name India a “poisonous hub”. and that is exactly what it is. These vulnerable girls, from ages as young as 11 years old, are being “poisoned” by the immoral minds of these traffickers that do not care two cents about these vulnerable girls.Vulnerable is the key word here. The fact that they prey on the poorest ones that unintentionally put themselves in a position to be sexually exploited. To be forced into marriages that they might not even know about. To help their families , so they sacrifice themselves to seek a “well paid” job.

“South Asia is currently home to >2.5 million HIV-infected persons, 95% of whom are from India.”How does that make you feel after reading that epidemic? Did you know that HIV-infected women and children have a higher chance of being co-infected with Syphilis, Hepatitis B and other STIs. The health risk of sex trafficking does not just affect India but the entire South Asia. HIV can be spread fast and easy if not protected or educated. Here are other tests conducted in Nepal that affect South Asia.

After reading this post I hope you feel compelled to help victims of sex trafficking in any way possible. Whether you do directly or indirectly it is guaranteed to save a persons life. Many global organizations offer the opportunity to do so. On the CNN website under “The CNN Freedom Project - Ending Modern-Day Slavery” have a list of organizations with ways to help. Here are some featured :

• Not For Sale -

Not For Sale, based in California, accepts donations and has many suggestions as to how you can help, including ideas for students, artists, etc.

• Save the Children-

With Save the Children, you can join the fight against human trafficking by donating financially or by sponsoring a child.

• UNICEF-

UNICEF accepts donations and provides training manuals on the subject of human  trafficking.

• End Human Trafficking Now-

End Human Trafficking Now, based in Switzerland, is the first worldwide initiative to engage the private sector in anti-trafficking efforts – enforcing its vision of zero tolerance to human trafficking. The association accepts financial donations.

Feel free to do any additional research and keep up with me for Blog Post #2.

Annotated Bibliography