HUMAN TRAFFICKING & U.S. YOUTH

While slavery dates back to the founding of the U.S. and was abolished in 1865 with the passage of the 13th amendment, modern day slavery preservers globally as well as in the U.S.

To combat modern day slavery, the U.S. passed the 1999 Trafficking Victims Protection Act that was reauthorized in 2006 as the TVPRA.
1) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or
coercion or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under 18,
or
2) The recruitment, harboring,
transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services,
through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjecting that
person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

Prostitution and human trafficking are interlinked systems of oppression of sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism at its extreme. Most vulnerable to human trafficking and prostitution are those most vulnerable in the U.S.: women of color, queers of color, and youth. However, this is not to perpetuate stereotypes about prostitution/human trafficking, but rather, to point to trends.

Youth: ECPAT USA (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes)', an Anti-Trafficking agency, states that the average age of entry into street prostitution is between 12 and 14 years old, though there have been cases of girls as young as 9 years old. The U.N. defines a child as anyone under the age of 18 years-old, and therefore, I use it interchangeably with youth.

Global Trends: ECPAT also estimates that over one million children are trafficked across the globe every year for sexual purposes. It is estimated that 10 million children around the world are subject to sexual exploitation. ECPAT use the term commercial sexual exploitation of children (or CSEC) to describe the various activities that exploit children for their commercial value including child sex tourism, child prostitution, child pornography and the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

The U.S.: The CIA estimates 50,000 women and children are transported each year throughout the United States by being conned and forced into a life of sexual exploitation. The FBI estimates that the average age of a prostitute in the United States is 13. Various studies say 300,000-800,000 youths are at risk of sexual exploitation[1].

In San Francisco, studies have illustrated that 68% of prostitutes enter before age of 16, and this number increases to 78% for those before the age of 18 years.[2]

Internet Violence: Donna M. Hughes work on internet and pornography conveys that the global revolution of communications, access to information and media has also been utilized to facilitate sexually exploit women and girls locally, nationally, and transnationally.

In 2005, the CyberTipline received notice of a grand total of 70,737 incidents. The bulk came from 64,221 incidents of child pornography, including possession, manufacture and distribution. In 2000, 77 percent of the child pornography cases were internet related.[3]

Based on these incidents, also noted were 2,669 reported incidents of online enticement of children for sexual acts, 611 for unsolicited obscene material sent to a child, 841 misleading domain names, 1,640 reports of child sexual molestation by other than family members, 553 of child prostitution and 202 for child sex tourism. This practice involves adults traveling to foreign countries to engage in sexual activity with children. It is estimated to draw more than one million children into the sex trade each year from countries that have been historically constructed as "Third World".[4] In order to understand sex tourism in general, a suggested read is Cynthia Enloe's Bananas, Beaches, and Bases.

On April 2003, a significant milestone was reached when Congress passed the Protect Act (Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003), which was subsequently signed into law.

--------------------------------------------------

[1] Judy Keen, USA Today. “Child-prostitution cases reveal cruel underworld.” July 26, 2006. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-26-prostitution-crackdown_x.htm
[2] Silbert, MH and Pines, AM. “Entrance into prostitution,” Youth and Society 13 (4): 471-500, 1982.
[3] Interview with Raymond Smith, Fraud, Child Exploitation and Asset Forfeiture
Group, Office of Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (May 7, 2001).
[4] Alexandra DeFelice. “The Growing Cancer of Child Sexual Exploitation on the Web.” MacNewsWorld. April 25, 2006.