EDUCATION AND AWARENESS

​Modern day slavery has taken on a form that many do not want to look at and/or don’t believe exists. It imperative to understand what we are dealing with if we are ever going to prevent and ultimately stop it.

Everyday we all participate in the demand side of human trafficking without even knowing it. America’s (and the world’s) fast paced and “throw away” culture has created doorways to many venues that are now fueling Human Trafficking: the internet; our cell phones; the need/desire for low priced goods over quality product; large corporations that focus on profits above people selling us product made with slave labor (sea food, chocolates, coffees, fire crackers, tennis shoes, clothing, etc.); in short – our materialistic culture as a means of determining our sense of personal worth as opposed to understanding our own intrinsic value.

We can ALL be a part of reducing the demand for product substantially if we will simply REFUSE to purchase product from these Corporations once we learn of their practices that often times resort to even disposing of the slaves once they have used them up — only to make a higher profit. We MUST change our life styles and our culture in order to transition from our current system of capitalism where the bottom line rules into a new “Conscious Capitalism” where the purpose includes everyone connected to the business, most importantly those who make the business to begin with – the employees and the patrons.

Our partner organization, http://humantraffickingusa.org, is an educational site that will give you extensive information in order to become knowledgeable about the issues most surrounding Human Trafficking in America, both Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking. Please take some time to review this site and educate yourself on Human Trafficking so you will know how to be a part of the solution in affecting our culture so we don’t want to harm one another in this manner.

STATISTICS 

• As many as 300,000 children are at risk for sexual exploitation each year in the United States. 1
• In 2009, 49,105 human trafficking victims worldwide were identified, a 59 percent increase over the previous reporting year. 1
• In 2010, an estimated 12.3 million adults and children were in forced labor, bonded labor, and forced prostitution around the world; 56 percent of these victims were women and girls. 1
• In 2009, there were 4,166 successful trafficking prosecutions, a 40 percent increase over 2008.
• OJP-funded Anti-Human Trafficking Task Forces have identified more than 3,300 potential victims nationwide.
• These task forces have trained more than 85,000 law enforcement officers and others in identifying the signs of human trafficking and its victims. 1
• In 2001, 49% of confirmed child sexual abuse URLs were hosted in North America. 2
• 100,000 to 300,000 adolescents are sold for sex each year in the United States. 3
• The average price tag for an underage girl sold on the streets is $400 per hour. 3
• Children are sold an estimated 10 to 15 times a day. 3
• One in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18. 4
• The average age of entry into pornography and prostitution in the U.S. is 12. 5
• The life expectancy of the commercially exploited “prostitute” is 7 years. 5
• Human Trafficking and exploitation is the fastest growing and second largest criminal enterprise in the world, generating an estimated $34,000,000,000 a year worldwide. 7
• Approximately 2,000 children are reported missing each day in the United States. 5
• ​Of the approximately 800,000 children reported missing to law enforcement each year in the United States, approximately 350,000 of them are runaways. 5
• 60 percent of all prostitutes are runaways. 5
• Approximately one in seven youth online (10 to 17 years-old) received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet. 6
• Children in unconditional worst forms of child labor: In addition to the number of children in hazardous work, it is estimated that there were about 8.4 million children involved in other worst forms of child labor as defined in International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No.182, Art. 3. This includes trafficking (1.2 million); forced and bonded labour (5.7 million); armed conflict (0.3 million); prostitution and pornography (1.8 million); and illicit activities (0.6 million). 7
• There are an estimated 2.5 million people worldwide who have been trafficked into forced labor. Some 22 to 50 per cent of trafficking victims are children. 8
• By some estimates, [human trafficking] is a global industry with US$32 billion in annual profits from forced labor. 8 (** ILO stats of 34 billion are the most recent. UNICEF has not changed their stats to date 1-31-2013)

SOURCES

1 US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE – OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/newsroom/factsheets/ojpfs_humantrafficking.html)

2 INTERNATIONAL WATCH FOUNDATION (http://www.iwf.org.uk/resources/trends)

3 Shared Hope International and the Washington Attorney General’s Office (http://www.sharedhope.org/Portals/0/Documents/2011_NewWashingtonlaw.pdf)

4 NATIONAL CENTER ON DOMESTIC AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE (http://www.ncdsv.org/images/sexualassaultstatistics.pdf) Finkelhor, David, et al. “Sexual Abuse in a National Survey of Adult Men and Women: Prevalence, Characteristics and Risk Factors,” Child Abuse and Neglect, 1990.

5 U.S. Department of Justice – Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/01-2011/FromTheField.asp)

6 NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN (http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PageServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=2815)
[David Finkelhor, Kimberly J. Mitchell, and Janis Wolak. Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later. Alexandria, Virginia: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2006, pages 7-8, 33.]

7 International Labor Organization – April 2002, Pg. 6 (http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=742)

8 UNICEF: THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S CHILDREN 2012 – TRAFFICKED CHILDREN IN OUR CITIES – Protecting the exploited in the Americas, by Ricky Martin, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Pg. 54 (http://www.unicef.org/uganda/SOWC_2012-Main_Report_EN_13Mar2012.pdf)

https://na4.salesforce.com/sfc/play/index.jsp?oid=00D300000006E4S&viewId=05H60000000Yl0u&d=0i1GKP5PVjb5g7wWmouadOJ20Kk%3D&v=06860000000HqhN

NOTE** Since we created this STAT Sheet, the ILO has reported that sex trafficking has been reduced by 19% however Labor Trafficking has increased 43%.

Additionally, there are now 20.9 million as opposed to the most often quoted stat of 27 million slaves world-wide. Also, a new stat by the International Labor Organization.

FACTS ABOUT SEX OFFENDERS

• There are approximately 637,000 registered sex offenders in the United States (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2008).
• There are approximately 250,000 convicted sex offenders under criminal justice supervision in the community (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 2006).
• Most sex offenders (80-95%) assault people they know. (Greenfield, 1997; Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997 and 2000).
• At least half of convicted child molesters report that they also have sexually assaulted an adult (Alhmeyer, Heil, McKee, and English, 2004).
• Over 80% of convicted adult rapists report that they have molested children (Alhmeyer et al, 2004).
• Approximately one-third of sex offenders report assaulting both males and females. Research shows that most convicted sex offenders have committed many, assaults before they are caught (English, Jones, Pasini-Hill, Patrick, and Cooley-Towell, 2000).
• Most sex offenders report that they have committed multiple types of sexual assault (sexual assault crimes include exhibitionism, voyeurism, oral sex, vaginal penetration, attempted penetration, fondling, and incest) (English et al, 2000).
• Over two-thirds of offenders who reported committing incest also report they assaulted victims outside the family (English et al, 2000).
• Studies of victims have shown less than 30% of sex crimes are reported to law enforcement (National Victim Center and the Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992; Tjaden and Thoennes, 2006).
• Young victims who know or are related to the perpetrator are less likely to report the crime to authorities (Hansen, Resnick, Saunders, Kilpatrick, and Best, 1999).