Underage Females Working in Brothels via Sex Trafficking - Research Paper Example

Gender and Sexual Studies Underage Females Working in Brothels via Sex Trafficking In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nation has proclaimed that childhood is entitled to special care and assistance (Article 25). Likewise, it states that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State (Article 16). This declaration was adopted almost sixty years ago. Would it be right to say that this idealism is far from being achieved? Why? In many parts of the world, the problem of child prostitution is a frightening reality. The results are tragic because in most cases, the underage females that are working in brothels are victims of sex trafficking. They feel frustrated and worthless, seeing no prospect of escaping their wretched lives. Sad to say that even parents that are supposed to show love and protect their children, often contribute to the climate of permissiveness, because they claim that poverty led them to sell their children into prostitution. Widespread depravity and rampant barbarous pedophile cannot be controlled by law enforcement. However, influential personalities recognize the devastating effects of child prostitution by sex trafficking. In fact, nation leaders considered this as a barbarous crime. Thus, working alongside with government agencies, officials and legislative bodies, they are doing their earnest efforts to stop the problem. Yet, despite their noble intentions, sex trafficking of minors is still growing. How extensive is the problem of sex trafficking today? What leads to this horrific situation? According to Sex trafficking Fact Sheet, “sex trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery 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 the age of 18 years” (National Human Trafficking Resource Center). The Fact Sheet declares that considering sex trafficking as a serious violation of Federal law, Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, or TVPA, is being ratified. TVPA defines ‘commercial sex act’ as any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person. It also recognizes that sex traffickers customarily use psychological and physical coercion, such as making threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any person, using any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the victim to believe that failure to do the command action would result in serious harm. The Fact sheet enumerates the various types of sex trafficking. The victims are forced into different forms of commercial sexual exploitation such as prostitution, pornography, stripping, live-sex shows, mail-order brides, military prostitution and sex tourism. Sex trafficking operation usually takes place in a more underground systems such as closed-brothels that operate out of residential areas. It also can be found in a variety of public and private locations such as massage parlors, spas, and strip clubs. Additionally, Fact sheet specifies the common patterns of traffickers for luring the victims, such as, a promise of good job in other country, a false marriage proposal which turned into a bondage situation, parents willful intent of selling their children into sex trade, and others being kidnapped by the traffickers. Frequently, traffickers subject their victims to debt-bondage, the expenses incurred by their travel which include food and transport, thus they must pay the debt by their sex services. Traffickers will use various methods to condition their victims to perform sex acts, such as starvation, confinement, physical abuse as beatings, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and to their families, forced drug use, and the threat of staining their reputation by revealing to their friends and families friends their nature of work. What an awful situation these underage victims are facing! So far, trafficking is considered to be one of the leading global criminal enterprises with an estimated number of 600,000 and 800,000 people being trafficked across borders each year. But the US official estimates 2 to 4 million people trafficked every year which includes sex trafficked within countries. Globalization has contributed to the increasing number of people being trafficked due to freer flow of people, money goods and services to extend international reach (Miko 1). Miko reports how extensive is sex trafficking today, that according to the US Department of State, Southeast Asia is one of the main contributor in sex tourism growth with the masses of sex tourists from Europe, North America Japan and Australia travelling to Thailand, Cambodia and Philippines, wherein large-scale of child prostitution occurs. Japan is also considered to be the largest market for sex trafficked women from Asia, mostly Filipinos and Thai, whereas Vietnamese victims are trafficked to China and Cambodia. Various NGO sources has its own estimated survey noting that hundreds of thousands of foreign women and children have been sold into the Thai sex industry since 1990, with most coming from Burma, Southern China, Laos, and Vietnam. East Asia. Japan is also believed to be a destination for trafficked women from Russia and Eastern Europe. Additionally, victims from Southeast Asian developing countries like China, Burma, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, are being sent to more affluent nations in Western Europe, the United States, Australia, and the Middle East. Also, Sri Lanka and India are among the favored destinations of sex tourists while Bangladesh and Nepal, the poorest countries in the region, are the considered to be main source countries. Thousands of Nepalese girls and young women are believed to be lured or abducted to India for sexual exploitation each year, while thousands of Bangladesh women are trafficked to Pakistan, as well as Afghan women. It is noticeable that victims primarily came from poor countries (4-5).. In Europe, due to economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union, sex trafficking becomes a lucrative business, replacing Asia as the main source of women trafficked to Western Europe. Recruits are coming from Russia, Ukraine, and other East European countries transporting them to West European countries such as Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Greece, Austria, and England. Traffickers also targeted refugee women who fled Kosovo, and according to the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Albanian traffickers have also smuggled thousands of Kosovo women into Italy for the sex trade (5-6). In Middle East, sexual exploitation of women and children usually involves the importation of women from other regions, usually from Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, because exploitation of Middle Eastern women have a less commercial dimension. While, several hundreds of women from the former Soviet Republics are sent to Israel every year by well-organized criminal group, according to Israel Women’s Network. (6-7) In Latin America and the Caribbean, tens of thousands of victims from Latin American and Caribbean women and children are believed to be trafficked for sexual exploitation each year to Western Europe and the United States. Due to restrictions placed on sex tourism in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and other Asian countries, a growing number of sex tourists diverted to Latin America, most particularly Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Honduras. Costa Rica, Trinidad and Brazil, one of the worst child prostitution problem in the world (7). . In Africa, according to the U.S. Department of State, tens of thousands of victims are assumed to be trafficked annually although the extent of trafficking is not well documented. Presumably, due to poverty and the low status of women as major contributing factors just like other countries, children are inclined to enter prostitution. Additionally, wars and civil strife affecting countries like Sudan and Rwanda, women and children are vulnerable to trafficking (7). Then, a more dreadful statement was declared by the United Nation’s agency regarding the worsening situation of child prostitution across the German border in the Czech Republic, that they received a report of children under the age of six are being sold into German sex tourists. Cathrin Schauer, a social worker in the border region of Czech, was the one who wrote the report to UNICEF based on what she observed over the course of several years. According to her report, children of less than six years of age are being offered to the sex tourists by women, while some eight-year-olds just come along on their own, doing their own negotiations about payment and sexual practices to do. These children are waiting in the nearby supermarkets, restaurants and gas stations along the Czech motorways just across the border from Germany. As Schauer observed, clients normally come in cars with German plate numbers, while some other are driving up in luxury limousines or small vans with tinted windows. So awful that in some cases, parents or siblings are the ones that handing the small children to customers into the cars of sex tourists who pay for a relatively small amount of money, around six to thirty equivalent in US dollars. Schauer explained that these children come from poor families, while other’s mothers are often drug addicts or prostitutes at the same time. Also, some babies are being sold to the foreign customers to become prostitutes in western Europe (DW-WORLD.DE Homepage). Analyzing underlying circumstances, poverty seems to be the number one reason that pushes children to enter prostitution. In fact, in some cases, parents are fully aware and sometimes they even serve as their pimps looking for customers and do the negotiation. Barbarous sex traffickers are taking advantage of the consequence of poverty that children and adolescence are being recruited to work overseas for prostitution. Others are aware of what kind of job they will tackle, while others are being cheated by offering them jobs with no particular skills required such as babysitters and housekeepers. Unfortunately, some other victims are being kidnapped and transported by the traffickers illegally. While poverty is one of the primary risk factors that create vulnerability to trafficking, ILO and UNICEF explains in a broader sense the other risk factors that associated with poverty, they called ‘poverty plus’. This is a situation in which poverty does not stand alone as the risk factor of trafficking. Such as in cases where female children are more vulnerable to trafficking because of their parents and families socio-economic situations, that parents often send their girl children to work rather than formally educating them as they believed that education is not for them since they will marry soon and leave their parents (Makisaka 11). Furthermore, sex trafficking business has become more rampant because of sex tourism. As stated in one article: Child trafficking and child sex tourism is a lucrative multi-billion dollar industry that fuels avarice and corruption while attracting organized crime syndicates and transnational trafficking networks. (Song 2). Song reported that the number of children becoming victims of sex tourism continues to rise due to rapid globalization of trade and the growth of the tourist industry. Since countries open their borders to global markets and airfares becoming more affordable to consumers, sex offenders, majority adult males from more industrialized countries, easily travel to lesser developed countries where laws are weakly enforced and sex is cheap and readily available (2) The US Department of Justice affirms that sex tourism is growing tremendously as it reports that ILO reported its calculations of 2 – 14% of the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand in which derives from sex tourism. Yes, south east Asian nations have long been prime destinations for child-sex tourists (Nair par.4). Actually, according to worldwide report, human trafficking, which includes forced labor and sex trafficking, is said to be the largest money maker for organized crime following the drugs trading and firearms trading. An estimated amount of $7 billion representing the amount of money made by selling trafficked victims to pimps, wherein even larger amount of money if the estimation is on the amount generated by selling of sex acts by brothel owners (Hughes 12). Sad to say, advances in technology seems to worsen the situation. Through new inmgntechnology of Internet, international promotion of child prostitution industry is .made easy. Combined with other related computer technologies, it has become to be the largest source of pornography. Low-priced video equipment has likewise facilitated the production of child pornography. These become part of the terrible problem dealt at the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. In fact, internet commerce has reportedly benefited substantially from the commercial sex industry. In the year 2006, noted that the internet pornography industry had generated 2.8 billion US dollars, as it exceeded any pornographic generating income business such as cable television, exotic dance clubs or magazines. Craigslist.com, one of the many online media wherein pimps and human traffickers lure young women to engage in commercial sex industry under pretenses, then use this websites to sell the women they’ve slaved as sex workers, has reportedly produce an estimated amount of 80 million US dollars annual profits. Via internet, viewing images of potential girls, bidding for them and even paying for their services has become possible. Thus more sex trafficking has occurred through purchasing internet sex slaves (Kunze 242, 249-250). If there is more awareness about these problems around the world would it make a difference and maybe stop child prostitution? Actually, this was part of the aims of the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children held on August 1996 at Stockholm, Sweden. Their five aims include these two: “to provide an open forum for discussion through workshops and the presentation of case studies, to facilitate the exchange of experiences and highlight best practices; to identify ways to raise public awareness of the extent and nature of the problem and its social and political implications on a local, national, and international level”(Report of the World Congress III”, 2009, p. 10). Awareness and understanding on commercial sexual exploitation seemingly grew since there are related achievements in terms of enactment of new international legislation, reform of national legislation in countries around the world. Such as in 1999, the ILO Convention No. 182, on the worst forms of child labor was adopted. Also, “the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which supplemented the United Nations Convention against Trans-national Organized, Crime was also adopted and opened for signature in these years” (p.12). To meet awareness, lessons learned through a series of programs and efforts on research and practice must be shared even there are some failures on way ahead. Reviewing and sharing the lessons learned from the challenges ahead, as well as the achievements was the aim of the 2nd World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. The second summit was followed by another convention, the 3rd World Congress held on November 2008. Discussions and forums were participated by government and non-government agencies that are all supporting the Congress for a noble purpose of fight against sexual exploitation of children. Implemented legislations were being reviewed and analyzed, as well as achievements in implementation. All efforts are commendable. However, noticeably, what the Congress could not suggest is how to overcome the causes of sexual exploitation of children. Foremost among the lists of causes is poverty. Realistically, poverty is a long-term problem that has never been solved especially nowadays that many countries are facing recession. Additionally, there is a widespread of poverty due to overpopulation in some countries, unemployment, urbanization, and migration and growing racism against foreigners and refugees. There are comments that victims are just using poverty as a reason to justify their lusts. This maybe true since moral values are eroding rapidly everywhere, selfishness and craving for material things are increasing, disrespect for laws are growing, disregard for the well-being, dignity, and life of others are increasing, and family arrangement are rapidly breaking. Aren’t all these are the causes that we have analyzed from the reports in various cases of child prostitutions in different lands? Traffickers are only taking advantage of the victims that are affected by morality breakdown, aside from poverty. Therefore, is there any way to save the children victims of this society’s ill? The answer is clear. Those who are innocent victims can possibly be saved with the strict implementation on legislations especially on immigration laws. However, there is no perfect law. The problem can be minimized but cannot be eradicated. Yet, for those who willingly choose to track the road of prostitution, especially in cases where parents are responsible, awfully speaking, no mighty hand nor rulers can saved them from disgraceful acts. Morality breakdown is beyond the capacity of human rulers. However, nation leaders and government agencies efforts in eradicating sex trafficking are commendable. In fact, there are programs for rehabilitation for the rescued victims. The government has reportedly doing their job in assisting the victims of sex trafficking. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center declares that the US government helps the identified victims by adjusting their immigration status and obtaining support and assistance in rebuilding their lives in the United States through various programs. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) enables the certified trafficking victims who are non-US citizens to receive benefits and services funded by the Federal, considering them as refugees. Certified US-citizen victims are automatically eligible for many benefits intended for the victims. Victims can access benefits which include food, health care and employment assistance through the aid of HHS. Certified victims are also entitled to obtain access to services that provide English language instruction and skills training for job placement. Since, in most cases, many victims are reluctant to come forward for fear of being deported, HHS has extended effort to reach out victims by connecting them with non-profit organizations that are prepared to assist them and address their specific needs, and to provide them counseling, case management and benefit coordination (Sex Trafficking fact Sheet). With limited capacity of human leaders to stop sex trafficking and child prostitution, otherwise, they are doing their utmost to assist the victims in restoring their lives. Since, poverty is a never-ending problem in human society, and as long as there are monstrous, barbarous traffickers that are taking advantage of the situation, combatting the problem of sex trafficking seems to be a lifetime challenge. Works Cited DW-WORLD.DE. Stolen Youth: Child prostitution plagues German-Czech border. 2003. Web.04 Dec. 2011. < http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1016270,00.html> ECPAT International. Report of the World Congress III Against Sexual Exploitation of Children & Adolescents. (2009).. Web. 04 Dec. 2011 Hughes, Donna, M. The Demand for Victims of Sex Trafficking. 2005. Web. 04 Dec 2011. Kunze, Erin, I. Sex Trafficking Via The Internet: How International Agreements Address The Problem And Fail To Go Far Enough. Journal of High Technology Law. 2010. Vol. x. n..2. pp. 242, 249-250. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. Makisaka, Megumi. Human Trafficking: A Brief Overview. Social Development Notes. Conflict, Crime and Violence. 2009. p. 11. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. Miko, Francis, T. Trafficking in persons: The US and international response. CRS Report for Congress. 2006. pp. 2-8. Web. 04 Dec. 2011 Nair. Sowmia. Child Sex Tourism. Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). US Department of Justice. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. Song, Susan. Children as Tourist Attractions. Youth Advocate Program International resource Paper. p 2. Web. 04 Dec 2011. United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 16 & 25. Web. 04 Dec. 2011 Read More