Children

The film Very Young Girls takes you into the reality of sexual exploitation and trafficking of American girls, a true eye opener that is a must see for anyone who wants to see that Americas youth are given their chance at the American dream. Our eyes must be opened to the exploitation of our own youth if we are to be the world leaders in the abolishment of all forms of exploitation and trafficking/modern day slavery. To reinstate this need last week a screening of VeryYoung Girls was supported by the US State Department, and Ambassador Mark Lagon was on hand with Rachel Loyd the founder and Director of New York City based GEMS, to stress the need and reality of this problem.

Rachel Loyd and the GEMS staff don’t beat around the bush, they know the realities of the streets, and they know each day is a battle so they waist no time. The documentary is straight shooting and raw, just like the realities of a childhood as a victim on the streets, the film footage does not give you a rosy view of the life of the girls trying to brake the chains of exploitation. There is no easy fix, no quick way out of years of mental, physical and sexual abuse on the streets. As Rachel says in the film;

“There is no detox, no methadone. You hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”

Rachel Loyd is a true modern day hero, fighting for the young girls all too many have forgotten, she has given her heart, soul and life to these girls. She knows these girls, she has been these girls! A true survivor Loyd used her strength and experiences to establish GEMS (Girls Education & Mentoring Services), the halfway house in New York City she founded after she herself escaped from prostitution.

Loyd stands strong in the face of endless adversity and takes each girls daily struggle onto her own shoulders, giving each girl the true love and attention that they so desperately need and rightfully deserve. I had the opportunity to speak with Rachel after the film and while she is nothing more than personable it is not her heart that captivates you, it is her infectious strength. Rachel is an everyday woman with fighting spirit and endless heart that has inspired so many into action, but more importantly she is the rock for very young girls not only in NYC, but across the globe. There is hope and there is a normal life waiting for so many young girls and this film hopes to inspire those young and old.

Following the screening Mark Lagon asked Rachel Loyd;

“What do you think we should be doing nationally?”

Rachel stressed the need to see the problem for what it really is and punish those who are responsible while helping to heal the victims;

“Recognizing it as something that is done to them…Recognize it as child sexual abuse…Change the dialog and quit putting responsibility on young people and put it on the adults and those who facilitate these crimes.”

Very Young Girls is not a film, it is the reality of some 100,000 and 3 million minors involved in prostitution every year in the United States (Department of Justice estimates). No longer can we look at these girls as criminals, but we must see them for what they are victims and treat them as such, so that they may become survivors. Please see GEMS to learn more about the program, and how you can support Rachel and all the very young girls who have been victimized by sex trafficking in the United States.

When one in the US thinks of sex trafficking and exploitation, they tend to think of girls from lands with mostly unpronounceable names. Images of Russian “Natasha’s”, young Thai girls, girls on the streets of India, etc., however those images are not the only picture one must see in order to see the harsh reality of sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking.

While it is true that sex trafficking exists in every corner of the globe, young American girls are not immune form this demand driven plague of the flesh. Young vulnerable girls who are quite literally hunted, like animals in forest the girls are scoped out lured in by the weakness and naivety of innocence, the hunter the pimps who know how to infiltrate their minds with promises of love, affection and the attention they miss and crave.

The average age of entry into prostitution in the United States is 12 years old, 90% of those in the commercial sex industry have histories of abuse, thus making them easy prey in the jungle of demand and exploitation.

The film Very Young Girls, which follows the girls of NYC’s GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services, takes you into this harsh reality of the life of so many young All American girls. The film opens with a gritty intro into the mind of two pimps, Anthony and Chris Griffin shoot their own footage in an attempt to see their names in lights, or on MTV at the very least. Hoping for fame and fortune they used the camera to show the raw life of the very girls they exploit and essentially enslave, thankfully the same footage later put both behind bars.

“Ho Daddy”, as he likes to be affectionately called, has been pimping for 6 years and when asked how many girls he had, he responded with; “I’ve pimped over 100 Ho’s”. Then his brother asked what they were going to do, he responded with; “Gona find me a Bitch, find you a Bitch, we could split a Bitch in half.”

The graphic nature of the pimp languages is nothing compared to the actual life these young girls find themselves in on the streets. Insults are only the beginning of the mental breakdown and torture that these girls will face daily on the cold hard streets under the watchful eyes of their pimps.

How does it all begin, how do these girls get lured onto the streets? Youth makes one easy prey , and girls are targeted for their naivety and vulnerability. Like hunters the pimps look for the perfect target…they stake the girls out and woo them, learn their weaknesses and then when they have fully infiltrated they fire. Girls are lured in under the guise of girlfriends, pimps often act like the absent Father figure, caring for, protecting and buying the girls things until manipulation is second nature.

“I thought it was cool to be 12 and an old dude to be into me.”

When it is all you know temptation is the chain that holds these girls innocence. Girls are often lured back by their pimps with promises of love and affection, other times its pure threats, regardless it never leads to anything better than before. Girls are overwhelmed with confusion; an emotional cocktail of fear, shame, devotion, uncertainty…lead many back to life on the streets.

The word love can become a mental shackle on a girl…you often hear the girls mention the word “dating” when speaking of pimps. When you see the everyday face of these girls you are not just struck by their stories of life on the streets, but you watch them slip into stories and banter like school girls going over the daily gossip. The girls in the film are real, their stories are shocking, but they are sadly not uncommon and they are all innocent victims who need protection, guidance and hope, thankfully they have found it in GEMS.

In wake of the elections in Kenya reports have noted an increase of children in the sex trade. Agnetta Mirikau, a child protection specialist with UNICEF Kenya, stated that they had received numerous reports that children in sex trade had rapidly increased since the election. This post-violence sex work boom is fueled as the displaced have found little resources for survival. Reports over the years have shown a regular increase in the rate of child sexual exportation, however that the situation continues to deepen in post-conflict, as desperate to survive displaced girls are turning, or being forced into sex work, to earn the cash they need to get through their daily lives. The cost of their innocence and youth is most often less than $5.

In a country with a high prevalence for gender-based violence, it is no surprise that the exploitation of children has increased in the wake of Kenya’s months of violence. High instances of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), spousal rape, child molestation, rape in refugee and IDP camps, have been know throughout the country. The case of child prostitution in Kenya is far from a new story, as the coastal areas and areas with military bases have long since been a hotspot for sex tourism and prostitution, especially with children.

A UNICEF report, Extent and Effect of Sex Tourism and Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Kenyan Coast, released in 2006 showed that some10-15,000 girls living in coastal areas, an estimated 30% of all 12-18 year olds residing in those areas were involved in prostitution. While an additional 2-3,000 girls and boys were involved in full time prostitution and 1 in 10 of children in commercial sex work are initiated before the age of 12 years old. UNICEF estimates that in total Kenya has up to some 30,000 children (under the age of 19) in the commercial sex industry.

In March 2002 the Children s Act was enacted to prohibit the economic exploitation of children and any work or labor which is deemed hazardous to a child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. However despite the act and the inclusion of a Human Trafficking Unit within the police force in 2003, little impact appears to be reaching the streets and those in need.

The increase of sexual exploitation lead to an increase in HIV/AIDS, due to high instances of condomless sex and as a result of the deadly myth that sex with a virgin will cure the virus. This myth has also helped to fuel the growing number of sexually exploited children.The issue of sexual exploitation of children in Kenya looks to continue as the country’s economic and political stability continues to teeter in the balance. The consequences of Kenya’s generation of lost children has yet to be felt, however due to the lingering psychological trauma the effects will leave a lasting mark on Kenya’s future socially, politically and economically.

The issue of trafficking and sexual exploitation in Kenya is not isolated isolated to Kenyans, as Kenya is a country of origin, destination country, and transit route for trafficking in persons. Many trafficking victims come from the neighboring countries of Uganda, Somalia and Sudan. Children in Kenya continue to be exploited for work as domestic servants and agricultural workers across the country. Victims trafficked out of, or through the country are often sent to European, Australia, North America, or the Middle East.


Sadly the increase of sexual exploitation of women and children Kenya is not an isolated case, as high instances of sexual exploitation, trafficking and rape are seen in many post conflict countries. One such case can be seen in my recent post on Sierra Leone, Despite Peace Sexual Violence Rages On in Sierra Leone.


Please see some of my earlier posts, such as: Children of the Kibera Slums, Can Kenya’s Children be Healed? and What Future Awaits the Children of Kenya?

For more on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery in Kenya please see the following links:
Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery - Kenya
US State Department - Trafficking in Persons Report 2008
ECPAT: Child Sex Tourism in Kenya
IRIN: In-Depth: Youth in crisis: Coming of age in the 21st century

The UN called for greater worldwide access to contraception in its observation of World Population Day, on July 11th. The world’s population is expected to grow to 9.2 billion by 2050. According to UN data, supplying voluntary contraception to those who want it would cost about $1.2 billion per year. (BBC)

Albanian officials are actively seeking to counter the country’s centuries-old tribal tradition of the blood feud as part of the country’s efforts to modernize and join the NATO and European Union multilateral alliances. Earlier this year, authorities amended the penal code to criminalize the feuds while helping to fund official mediators and efforts to educate Albanian school children on other forms of conflict resolution. (Der Spiegel)

China’s one-child policy leaves 100 million without siblings. The official Xinhua News Agency, citing a report at a weekend forum in Shanghai, says the figure represents 8 per cent of China’s total population. Critics say the policy also led to forced abortions and sterilizations as local authorities pursued birth quotas set by Beijing, plus a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio, as families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs.(The Toronto Star/Associated Press)

A YouTube video depicting doctors desperately trying to rescue premature infants — four of whom died — during a hospital power outage has sparked a fierce debate about the quality of health care and other services in Egypt. Economic growth has benefited Egypt’s elite but inflation has put greater stress on the nation’s poor. (AlertNet.org)

UNICEF and the European Union July 1 launched a joint, four-year initiative to improve water and sanitation facilities in 21 districts across rural Uganda. The new project, launched in Kabarole district in western Uganda, aims to increase access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities and to improve hygiene behavior, focusing mainly on rural schools, health centers and communities. Although access to safe water has improved in Uganda, many regions still have a poor record and diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of infant mortality after malaria. (UN News Service)

The humanitarian situation inside Afghanistan is getting worse, with civilian casualties rising and food prices soaring, the United Nations relief chief said June 29, calling for the international community to revise its assistance plans to the strife-torn country. John Holmes, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said “a very understandable focus” in recent years on making progress on the political, security, development and reconstruction fronts has led to some humanitarian needs being neglected. (UN News Service)

When the leaders of the US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, opened their meeting in Japan on 7 July, World Bank President Robert Zoellick urged them to “seize this opportunity” in the face of a crisis that threatened to push 100 million or more additional people into hunger beyond the 850 million already suffering. (IRIN)

Red and white banners along Nile bridges and Cairo streets this month were Egypt’s latest effort to curb an increasingly pressing problem: a population growing faster than the economy can support. Since President Hosni Mubarak took office in 1981, the population has nearly doubled. But most of the country’s 76 million people are squashed in urban areas near the Nile, in an area roughly the size of Switzerland, which is home to just 7.5 million. “Before you add another baby, make sure his needs are secured,” ran the slogan, adding to a string of campaigns over 30 years to encourage family planning. Mubarak told a government-sponsored population conference that cutting population growth was urgent. (Reuters)

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul, then the way it treats its children.” - Nelson Mandela

Children are the global natural resources of the future, if we choose to ignore them we choose to ignore the prosperity of the future. Children are one investment which we should never be taken for granted or put on hold. However far to many children enter into this world into a society which underestimates their value, and which fails to invest in their worth.

Children often born into a society where childhood rarely ceases to exist, forced to endure the labor most adults loath and fear; to toil in the fields, swim the danger waters for fish, risk life and limb in the minds, etc. Children are recruited into the worlds most brutal armies, forced to commit and witness atrocities for which no man, woman or child should ever have to see. Young girls and boys our touted as sexual slaves, treated like disposable commodities. Girls are marginalized, treated as an inferior as societies continually fail to see their wealth.

Societies must begin to do some soul searching and begin to change the way in which we treat our children, for if not we will only have a future of instability and lost children to look forward to.

“Adults see the traditional dangers, like floods, cyclones, landslides or even tsunamis,” UNDP field coordinator for the programme Zihan Zarouk said, “but children can look outside the box, and identify things that adults probably see but tend to ignore.”

All too often children are taken for granted, as too young and naive, and thus are not consulted on what many view as adult decisions. However children look at the world with more open eyes and thus tend to see what most adults can miss. The case of disaster prevention is no exception and the adults have begun to listen with open minds in this case.

“Disaster management experts have come to appreciate the personal insight children bring to the training programme. They are often well attuned to the potential dangers that exist in their communities, and identify potential mitigating steps that might not otherwise be considered,” said UNDP field coordinator, Zihan Zarouk.

In Sir Lanka they have now begun to see children as early detectors, preventers of disaster. Children in 3 schools in each of the country’s 16 districts are part of a disaster awareness program run by the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Center, part of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and the UN Development Program (UNDP).

The program even includes a disaster version of Snakes and Ladders, “The snakes represent disasters while the ladders are mitigation methods. When a player gets to a snake he slides down on the board but when he reaches a ladder he moves up. “

While there may be some fun and games in the children’s disaster education, their ideas and thoughts are anything but child play!

In conflict there are many weapons that may be employed and while the Kalashnikov or IED may be favored arms in modern warfare, there is one weapon all men carry and all to often choose to use. Cheap and effective, men are choosing to use their bodies as weapons - in fact their manhood - to attack women and girls.

The use of rape as a weapon is one of the most violent and humiliating offenses inflicted on the enemy, the brutalization of rape permanently scars the victim’s mind, soul and often body. Victims are often shunned by their families and communities, permanently scared physically and mentally. Many victims become pregnant as a result of their rapes, leaving a permanent reminder through the birth of a child, placing both the mother and child in continual victimization and isolation.

Recently eyes have fallen on Zimbabwe, as evidence of the continued use of rape as a weapon of war has emerged. While the use of by Zimbabwe’s authoritarian government’s paramilitary National Youth Service, which was established in 2000, is well established little has been done to see its end. Therefore one now finds more news of Zimbabwe militias accused of keeping sex camps at ruling party bases. The some 900 camps were established by the ruling ZANU–PF’S party, as forward-operating bases for the shock troops after the March electoral defeat, for which they served as a base to target the opposition forces and intimidate voters, using violent tactics including murder. However the camps continue to operate despite the controversial re-election of President Robert Mugabe. In the camps the girls and young women captured to serve as sex slaves for the soldiers continue to be raped daily.

One who looks back on the use of rape in conflict is not surprised that the rapes continue, for thought Mugabe’s reign he has used the useful tool to control and wield power, and despite international knowledge of the crimes Mugabe and his forces went unpunished. The silence over the use of rape as a weapon of war, runs as long and deep as its historical use. The use of rape in conflict is rooted deep in world history and well established in modern warfare, however it can no longer remain an issue silenced by suppressive governments, ignorance and fear. The idea that rape is a normal by-product of war, due to its continual use historically and currently, only perpetuates its use. The seeing of it as normal and its continual impunity increases its use as a weapon, the perpetrators are less likely to be tried for rape than murder.

On June 19th, in the wake of 8 recent reports on rape in Zimbabwe by Amnesty International alone, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice following the U.N. Security Council debate on a U.S. resolution on wartime rape, led a second session on Zimbabwe, for which she called for more international pressure on President Mugabe. For more on the UN resolution see my previous post War Crimes Against Women and Girls

More on the use of rape in Zimbabwe:
Mugabe thugs raping teens: aid staff
Zimbabwe: Mugabe troops use rape as weapon
Dora, 12, gang-raped by Mugabe’s men for four hours
Zimbabwe’s torture training camps
ZIMBABWE: Focus on rape as a political weapon
ZIMBABWE: Women refugees in South Africa claim rape and torture at home
Reports of Rape and Torture Inside Zimbabwean Militia

NIGERIA:  The trafficking of girls and abuse is worsening, as girls from villages to cities in Nigeria is increasing and the state is powerless to stop the trade. “The business of recruiting teenage girls as domestic help in rich and middle-class homes is booming despite our efforts to put a stop to it”, Bello Ahmed, head of the Kano office of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP). (IRIN)

UN:  The importance of effective multilateralism, the need for UN reform and the fight against human trafficking were all high on the agenda during talks with Austrian leaders and UN officials on the second day of General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim’s official visit to the country. Kerim and Austrian President Heinz Fischer discussed the value of multilateralism and the ongoing efforts to reform the UN during their meeting June 27, according to a statement released by Kerim’s office. They also talked about the priority issues of the current session of the 192-member Assembly. (UN News Service)

Great Brittan:  Police say 167 victims, including 12 children, have been rescued in a major crackdown on human trafficking. More than 500 people were arrested in the operation, which involved 55 police forces in England, Wales and Scotland. The six-month operation targeted the sale of women and children for prostitution and forced labor. But the Home Office said police were struggling to look after the victims of trafficking, as many did not trust the authorities and refused to cooperate. (BBC)

Tonight at 11:30PM EST, ABC Nightline will air an episode inspired by the first chapter of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery. The book by E. Benjamin Skinner’s, has been heavily touted and a much needed eye opener into the world of modern day slavery.

Tonights episode, How to Buy a Child in Ten Hours, will look into the lives of Haiti’s 300,000 estimated child slaves, and shock you with the ease that one can buy a child’s life. Early reviews of the episode are saying that the piece is devastating, see a Good Morning America broadcast a teaser here. The episode, which shows ABC’s Dan Harris traveling undercover to Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince to broker a deal to purchase a child, all in the matter of time most American’s spend in their work day. It is all in a days work to enslave a child.

Earlier this year I brought you the post A Crime So Monstrous and Ending Slavery Shake DC to the Core, where you can see more on this book that will both engulf you into the seedy world of modern day slavery and shock you into action. Skinner’s book is truely a must read for anyone with an ounce of moral fiber.

For more on the book please click here, where you can learn more on the plight of modern slavery. A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to Free The Slaves and Anti-Slavery International.

For more on the current situation of children in Haiti, please see my previous posts including; Haiti’s Children the Poor of the Poor and Kidnapping and Violence on the Rise in Many Countries

In the spirit of 4th of July and America’s celebration of not only freedom, but of the men and woman who have fought, died and continue to devoted their lives to freedom. I wanted to write about heroes, as I feel its a word often said, but also all too often forgotten. Heroes walk among us every day, often they are treated as such for a moment and quickly they fade away, their struggles and sacrifices unnoticed, but heroes they remain.

While I want us not to forget those who serve to protect in the armed forces around the world, and treat each and everyone as a hero. One does not have to be a hero on the battlefield to be a hero, one does not have to be a soldier, or freedom fighter to be an inspiration and hero to a child. To be a hero is to be strong and stand for what you believe in and fight for what is right. You do not have to be the hero of a nation, but a hero to just one person. You can be a hero to your child, to your family, to your community, to the nation…stand for what you believe in, stand strong.

Everyday I am surrounded by soldiers and civilians alike who both fight against injustice, many only wielding a pen, others speak with voices of determination, and all are heroes. All are everyday average people who do not fall to greed, who see the privileges for which they hold in their hands everyday.

We are all given the ability to see right from wrong, but many of us turn a blind eye to that which does not affect us. And as each day dawns many of us do the right thing, we live in peace and harm no one, sometimes lending a helping hand. However there is more to being a hero than knowing what is right and doing it, being a hero is putting all others before yourself, putting your life in the hands of fate so others do not have to.

Heroes more often than not do not know they are heroes, but they are always there in the shadows! There are everyday heroes that walk among us, there are heroes who fight in distant lands, and there are heroes who have yet to take there call. It is all of these heroes that the children of the world look up to everyday. It is on the backs of all of these heroes that freedom and justice is found!