Speech- Rena Childers

There are many pitfalls to avoid and circumstances to navigate when people, particularly young people, suffer from poverty, war, lack of education, and disease. Sometimes they have control over their futures and sometimes they don’t. Today, I am going to discuss an ongoing human rights tragedy that occurs every day… countless times every day, sex trafficking. 

A young girl, 13 years old, living in poverty has constantly been told how beautiful she is. One day a young man approaches and offers her a job modeling, as long as she’s willing to travel out of the country. Hearing how much money she will make, she rushes home to share the good news with her family. After some consideration, her family agrees because they know they need the money to survive. As you can probably imagine, she did not agree to the type of modeling in which she was forced to participate. Upon arriving to a new, strange country, the young girl realizes she has been misled. Not only is she forced to engage in illegal sexual activities, but she doesn’t have the money to get home. 

Seems too crazy to be true, right? Wrong, in fact what I just told you is the real story of a girl named Nadya Vall. A documentary titled Girl Model that follows girls in similar situations, addresses the issue of sex trafficking of minors. This may seem like a rare situation, but two to four million people are victims of sex trafficking each year, with more than half of these being minors. Human trafficking has surpassed the sale of illegal weapons. Just inside the United States more than 300,000 minors are forced into prostitution, creating a 9.5 billion dollar industry.

I’m sure most of you heard about the Nigerian girls who were taken from their school by a group of Jihadist men. More than six months later, the girls are still being held captive, and many have been sold into slavery. The United States’ government refused to act because it violated its claim that “[it] will not negotiate with terrorists.” Injustices occur all over the world and as a dominant world power, I feel that it is our duty to intervene when necessary. These girls went to school because they wanted to learn, assuming it was a safe environment. Their families have no knowledge of their whereabouts, and whether they’re even alive. This particular event has become internationally recognized, mainly through social media, like Twitter and Facebook. The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls has helped put pressure on our government to aid these girls in need. 

A huge number of women and men have trouble sharing their story without feeling exploited, resulting in the public’s lack of knowledge. During my research, I came across one story that made me sick to my stomach. It is the story of a Korean woman named Dai. Dai fell in love with a man who convinced her to move to the States. Upon arriving to a remote location, she was locked in an abandoned house, beaten, and raped by her so-called lover. She managed to escape, but had no money or food to sustain her, moving from one homeless shelter to another. A woman approached her one-day and offered her a job as an “escort.” She was promised the job only entailed dating, and because of her desperation, she took it. After about a month of being in the business, one man demanded copulation. When she refused, she was beaten and raped. Afterwards she ran to the police who told her she had no rights because it was her “profession.” She told her employer that she was quitting, only to be trapped in the basement of a building in Las Vegas. The rest of the story is too gruesome to tell in class, but the next six months of her life were what any of us would consider hell. 

Her story brings up an important misconception; that prostitution and trafficking are two very different things. Although I personally disagree with the profession of prostitution, rape is just as traumatic for prostitutes as it is for anyone else. Of course there are instances when prostitution is a chosen profession, but no one chooses to be raped. Eighty-two percent of prostitutes report having been raped while on the job. Trafficking involves slavery as well as physical abuse, while prostitution typically does not include slavery, although many cases of forced enslavement have been reported. 

Unfortunately, the public hasn’t recognized most of the situations I previously spoke on. Getting the word out and gaining the public’s attention is the most effective way to approach the problem. It is our job as future leaders to educate our peers regarding this tragic issue. As Benjamin Franklin once wisely stated, “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”

WORKS CITED

"A Place of Refuge and Restoration for Girls Who Have Experienced Sexual 

Trafficking or Exploitation." The Covering House RSS. The Covering House, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://thecoveringhouse.org/act/resources-2/sex-trafficking-statistics-source-documentation/>.

"A Survivor's Story." Stop Human Trafficking NY. NY State Anti-Trafficking Coalition. 

Web. 9 Dec. 2014. <http://stophumantraffickingny.wordpress.com/a-survivors-story/>.

"Child Trafficking Statistics." Child Trafficking Statistics. Ark of Hope For Children,

22 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 Dec. 2014. <http://arkofhopeforchildren.org/child-trafficking/child-trafficking-statistics>.

Girl Model. Dir. Ashley Sabin. Perf. Ashley Arbaugh, Nadya Vall, Rachel Blais. 2011. 

DVD.

Sex for Sale: American Escort. By Daniele Anastasion. Perf. Mariana Van Zeller, Chris 

Bachman, Amanda Brooks. 2012. DVD.