Yes it’s true and yes it’s happening
28 Sep 2010 Leave a Comment
Some of you guys asked about my speach last week so here is a copy of the Informative Speach I delivered in my public speaking class:
Child Sex For Sale. Yes, you heard me correctly. I said Child Sex For Sale. According to UNICEF, an estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry. Children are lured, abducted, bought and sold for sexual purposes all across the world, including here in the United States. Most of the people I have spoken with about this are not sure what trafficking is and those who do know, don’t realize how startling the facts are concerning this industry so we will not only talk about what child trafficking is but we will also look at who the predators and victims are and talk about specific cases abroad and also right inside the U.S.
Stop Child Trafficking Now.com defines child trafficking as “the recruitment, smuggling, transporting, harboring, buying or selling of a child through force, threats, fraud, deception or coercion for the purposes of exploitation, prostitution, pornography, migrant work, sweat shops, domestic servitude, forced labor, bondage, peonage or involuntary servitude”. While this definition is not limited to sexual abuse, that is what I’d like to focus on today.
Unfortunately, there is a huge demand for children in the sex industry. They have become sexual commodities and according to UNICEF, the global market value of child trafficking is over $12 billion a year and it is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. In an NBC Report by Teri Williams, investigators and researchers estimate the average predator in the U.S. can make more than $200,000 a year off one young girl. If you multiply that by the estimated 200,000-300,000 American children a year that the Department of Justice says are at risk for trafficking into the sex industry that equals a horrifically large amount of money made off of the physical and emotional rape of children, some of which are as young as 5 years old.
When we think of a sexual predator, we tend to assume that those types of people are easy to identify. However, you may be surprised to learn that those who are participating in this industry, either by supplying the children or by raping them, are made up of individuals who come from all walks of life. A story on the website ExposeReport.com in May 2010, details the case of a pedophile postman in the United Kingdom who used Facebook to groom up to 1,000 children for sex. After creating at least 8 fake profiles, Michael Williams targeted children he met on his postal routes, on school runs as a taxi driver and his role as secretary of a football club. His targets ranged in age from 11 years to 16 years old. Police have identified about 500 victims he groomed or abused but believe there could be up to 1000 children total with many too scared to come forward.
On September 15th of this year, just about a week ago, the United States Department of Justice published information about a case in Florida involving Jeffrey Robert Libman, the vice-president and co-director of a Florida corporation. Libman pleaded guilty to 16 counts of transporting child pornography. According to the documents, he was the registered owner of a “child modeling” website that contained hyperlinks to 16 different sites each of which pertained to a different child. Each site contained illegal images of child pornography. Libman admitted , and I quote, “that the websites depicting the 16 victims generated approximately $1million in revenue. “.
I have found that there is also an assumption made of the victims of this crime: That they are runaways and trouble makers. However, that is not the case in most of these situations. The victims of this industry come from the same varied backgrounds as the predators. An article from Breibart.com depicts the story of a 7 year old girl in New Jersey who was sold by her 15 year old stepsister for sex. The older sister not only received money, but also watched while as many as 7 men gang raped the young girl. She was not a troubled child who had emotional or mental problems. She was an innocent little girl who was sold by a family member.
There is case after case of innocent young children who are betrayed by family members or friends or snatched up off the playgrounds or from a crowded mall or while waiting for the school bus. The Child Abduction Prevention Program, which began in 2002 in Mancelona, Michigan was inspired after the abduction, rape and murder of five year old Samantha Runnion in California. She was playing innocently with friends outside her home when a man drove up and took her, according to Joanie Moore, the website owner and founder of the organization. And Abbie Alford reported for Fox23.com, about an anonymous survivor of the sex trafficking industry, who said many of the traffickers will pose as talent agents pretending to cast musicians, actors and models.
These predators are going after children of all ages from all backgrounds. They will stop at nothing to make a profit and it seems that the younger the child is, the more money they make.
You can see from the facts, that child trafficking is a huge industry that is making huge profits. The predators and traffickers cannot always be easily identified and they have no rules or moral code of conduct. The victims come from everywhere but have one thing in common, they are sexually exploited against their will.
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