Trafficking in other human beings is a world-wide problem. Its best known facet is sexual exploitation, but all too many other victims are subjected to forced labour, domestic servitude, child beggary or they become the victims of the horrific trade in human organs.
Children and adolescents do not escape from the trafficking in people which is an annual source of billions of dollars and ranks along with drug and arms trafficking.
The U.S. Justice Department estimates that 17,500 people are trafficked into the country every year, but the true figure could be higher. Those being trafficked include men and women, teenagers and young children.
The rate of human trafficking has directly increased in correlation with globalization. Globalization has increased cross-border trade and the demand for cheap labor. However, migration policies of the U.S. and other countries have not changed with the level of demand for cheap labor, thus forcing people to immigrate illegally. Illegal immigration then creates ideal conditions for organized criminal operations to form trafficking circles.
Sexual exploitation is closely allied. It is both a problem of human rights and an expression of gender and income inequalities since victims are generally economically deprived girls and women.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Atlanta, Georgia is the No. 1 hub of human and sex trafficking in the United States; there are over 200 active brothels in Atlanta with two new businesses opening every month. Atlanta is home to more strip clubs and illicit spas than Las Vegas; these businesses serve as fronts for sex trafficking.
Based on a study released by Dallas Women's Foundation, sex trafficking of young girls is a widespread criminal activity in Texas.[37] The research found that 740 girls under age 18 were documented as being marketed for sex during a 30-day period in Texas, of whom 712 of these girls were being marketed through Internet web sites and 28 were being marketed through escort services.[37
Last year, much publicity was given to a police intervention by the FBI that rescued 105 children and adolescents from sexual rings dealing which minors, both girls and boys. The police dragnet evidenced the magnitude of the problem, since raids were conducted in over seventy American cities and 150 pimps were arrested.
One of the American champions of Childrens’ Rights, Mr. John Walsh, has repeatedly charged that the United States is the world’s main offender in the sexual traffic of boys and girls.
Correspondingly, a huge march against ths was recently held in Los Angeles, where over 3,000 such cases have been documented.
The young victims are often suffer from depression, social disorders and personality changes and are prone to drug addiction or of turning to prostitution when becoming adults.
The fact is that all over the United States, but particularly in the larger cities, the sexual traffic of minors is flourishing. According to many institutions, experts and local authorities it has has become no less than a national disgrace.
