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A masked woman sitting on her bamboo boat in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, is a potential target for abduction. Thousands of young women across Asia are kidnapped or tricked into becoming part of the global sexual-slavery racket. |
WASHINGTON--With Lifetime
The hypothetical victims of sex trafficking whose stories are portrayed in the drama are joined by millions more each year who are trafficked into not only sexual exploitation, but also forced labor and other slavelike conditions.
Some victims live a life of farm or sweatshop labor. Some, as young as 6, are forced to serve in armed militias. Some are abused in the sport of camel racing, undernourished and trampled in the name of recreation.
They are people like Shadir, who at 15 accepted a job that promised good clothes and an education. It proved to be a case of false advertising--a typical ploy of traffickers--for the job actually took him to a rural village where he was forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day producing hand-woven carpets. His only payment was two helpings a day of lentils and rice. When Shadir was unable to work, he was severely beaten.
They are people like Silvia, a single mother who answered an ad for a housekeeping job. Once at the job agency, however, Silvia was put in a line with other female job applicants to be inspected by potential buyers. She was purchased and taken to a fourth-floor condo where she was used as a domestic servant 20 hours a day. Forced to rummage through garbage for her food, treated as a prisoner and beaten daily, Silvia escaped by jumping from a window to the street below. She is now permanently paralyzed.
The victims of human trafficking are people from all walks of life, including up to 17,500 trafficked into this country each year. They are victims of different races, religions, and ages, but they share something in common: They are trapped.
The good news is that the movement
President Bush and Congress have made this issue a priority so government resources are brought to bear to prevent trafficking, protect victims and prosecute traffickers. Private charitable organizations across the United States are stepping up efforts to help victims and ensure justice. People of faith, feminists, students, and former victims are working together to shine light on this global challenge.
And we're not confining our efforts to our own borders. We are reaching out around the world to stimulate greater action. The Department of State issues an annual Trafficking in Persons Report to inform, provoke, laud and challenge governments. In four years, U.S. tax dollars have supported $264 million in anti-trafficking programs in more than 130 countries. And the Congress has given the president the authority to sanction those countries that fail to act to abolish this form of slavery. Thanks in part to our engagement, over the last two years, there have been nearly 6,000 convictions of traffickers worldwide, and 60 governments have passed anti-trafficking laws.
The alternative is untenable. If the world does not take action, we allow human rights be abused, organized crime to grow, and public health to be gravely undermined.
And because of our own history and values, our country has an important role to play in fighting modern forms of slavery. As we follow in the footsteps of our forebears, such as Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, we invite your active participation in this movement to ensure that this and future generations can enjoy true and enduring freedom.
JOHN R. MILLER is senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
