Galleries - Child Sex Slavery and Exploitation
The primary drivers of commercial sexual exploitation of children are prostitution, pornography and sex tourism. Their stories all include poverty, like 16-year-old Serey, whose parents forced her to find work to help support her siblings. A polio victim, Serey had few marketable skills and ended up in a brothel. Or Kim, whose sister sold her to a massage parlor, where she was being trained to perform sex acts at age 10. The reasons are often complex, but the results are the same, children forced to work in a growing sex trade where demand drives even caring parents to do dreadful deeds. Both Serey and Kim are now in safe homes, part of a network of shelters working hard to provide children of sexual exploitation a better future. But, for every child who is rescued, there are many more in danger of sexual abuse. [13 photos]
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| Children who are desperately poor are especially at risk of being trafficked. Trafficked children may be exploited by being used in prostitution, pornography, labor in factory or agricultural work.
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| Most countries in the world are involved - they may be a source of vulnerable children, a place they are trafficked through, or a destination for trafficked children. (girl photographed is living in a safehome)
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| Unfortunately, Europe and the US also play a part overseas when "sex tourists" visit countries like Thailand or Cambodia and have sex with (rape) children. (girl photographed is living in a safehome)
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| UNICEF estimates that every year 1.2 million children are trafficked around the world. (girl photographed is living in a safehome)
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| Children cannot be liberated from bondage only to end up at risk of starvation, homelessness, or being re-trafficked and exploited. At this very moment, children in brothels around the world could be set free if additional safehomes and trained caregivers existed. (girl photographed is living in a safehome)
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| After children are rescued by trained investigators and police, they are taken to a safe place. But these children do not just need a safe place; they need a home. They need a safe home. Because of their traumatic experiences and resulting special needs, these children need a special home that can meet their special needs and help them rebuild their lives.
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| The complex nature and cultural stigma surrounding the sexual abuse of boys have allowed it to go unnoticed by the general public.
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| “Men, women and children are not property but human beings. The international community should declare, loudly and more strongly than ever, that we are all members of the human family. Slavery simply has no place in a world of human rights.” ~ Kofi Annan (boys photographed are living in a safehome)
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| "Slavery is what slavery's always been: about one person controlling another person using violence and then exploiting them economically, paying them nothing. That's what slavery's about." ~ Kevin Bales (boys photographed are living in a safehome)
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| Safehomes use holistic methods of therapy including music to bring healing to children. (girls photographed are living in a safehome)
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| A young girl sits with a guitar in a safehome.
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| Well established safehomes will not only provide a child's basic needs but also a home environment and tools which facilitate growth and restoration.
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| "Yes, a new day is here. Across America -- throughout the entire world -- the forces of emancipation are at work." ~ Hubert Humphrey (girl photographed is living in a safehome)
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