A Silent Terror

Over the years I have discussed several issues but perhaps none are as heartbreaking and devastating as today's topic: the trafficking of runaway youth. Human trafficking is when people are tricked, lured, coerced or otherwise removed from their home or country, and then forced to work for the evilest of people in the most reprehensible of roles.
 Human trafficking is modern day slavery and the three main issues are slave labor, sexual exploitation, and prostitution. Underage and runaway homeless youth are often preyed upon, especially in regard to forced prostitution. Many runaway youth quickly realize the difficulties associated with homelessness and living on the streets. These kids often try their best to survive without assistance but eventually life becomes too difficult on their own and they find themselves in dire situations.
 Traffickers force their victims to engage in these activities. Force involves the use of rape, beatings and confinement. Forceful violence is used especially during the early stages of victimization, known as the 'seasoning process', which is used to break the victim's resistance to make them easier to control. The goal is to dehumanized the victim to the point they believe they actually owe the trafficker.
 Fraud often involves false offers that induce people into trafficking situations. For example, women and homeless youth will reply to advertisements promising jobs as waitresses, maids and dancers and are then trafficked for purposes of prostitution once they arrive at their destination.
 Coercion involves threats of serious harm or physical restraint. It is a scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act will result in devastatingly injurious consequences.
 Victims of trafficking are often subjected to debt-bondage, usually by having to pay off food or clothes that are bought for them. Traffickers often threaten victims with injury or death, or the safety of the victims' family back home. Traffickers commonly take away the victims' identification and isolate them to make escape more difficult. Many fear for their lives if they attempt to flee.
 In most cases, victims are trapped into a cycle of debt because they have to pay for all living expenses in addition to the initial transportation expenses. Fines for not meeting daily quotas of service or "bad" behavior are also used by some trafficking operations to increase debt. Most trafficked victims rarely see the money they are supposedly earning and may not even know the specific amount of their debt. A sense of hopelessness spirals into despair and then embarrassment. The victim begins to wrongly believe they deserve what has happened. There is so much to talk about regarding human trafficking and its relation to homelessness. My next blog will continue the discussion. Here are some statistics to think about until then.
 There are 100,000 to 300,000 underage girls being sold for sex in America. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12-14 years old, both boys and girls. 1 out of every 3 teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of running away from home.