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

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

Sadly the case of infanticide in India is not a new story, but the long term effects of what one may consider the worst form of gender inequality are beginning to rear their ugly head. As a result, showing a noticeable effect on the Indian population, especially in the more densely populated states in the northwest of the country, such as Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh. Infanticide and selective abortions of female fetuses has now shown signs that it is tilting the gender ratio in these regions, leaving the female to male ratio out of balance.

India’s population has continually increased over the years, but the ratio of females to males has steadily decreased, leaving over one quarter of Indian states have an adult population with fewer than 900 women for every 1,000 men. The decrease in females has lead many regions missing suitable brides, causing men to look else where for women. Many find themselves in what has become more of a desperate search for a wife, leaving many to marry out side of their class or culture, creating an obstacle that goes beyond language for many new wives. A great majority of the wives sought outside of the region are significantly younger, and are arranged into marriages of what some are now calling “…neither marriages of convenience, nor of choice”.

The following article, Killing of baby girls triggers social upheaval in India, found that “social workers documenting the impact of female infanticide and feticide on society insist that such marriages are on the rise”. Significant studies and research are needed to adequately track the trend, however it appears that the hard search for a wife in many states will continue. With this desperation comes the increase and likelihood of human trafficking, which as well is not new to Indian society. “Which analysts say, is on the rise.” leading to an increase in the number of stories such as that of “Sonia, a young woman from Banaras who was sold for $1,000 before a sea of curious faces. The business in trafficking women for marriages wouldn’t be thriving quite so much if female feticide and infanticide were under control.”

Some researchers have suggested that this decrease in female population could cause an increase in all forms of sexual exploitation and violence of women and girls. “Initially sold as wives, many are then resold into sex work or as slaves,” says Raj Singh Chaudhury, an activist from Shakti Vahini (Gulf News). Women and girls are sold for as little as $40, the younger the girl the higher the price that can be sought, leaving girls as a human commodity fueled by the toxic combination of desperation, gender inequality, and poverty.

India is not alone in it’s preference for males, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), regions where son preference is most apparent include; Asia (China, Bangladesh, India, Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Taiwan), the Middle East (Iran, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey) and most parts of Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Liberia, Madagascar, Senegal), as well as Latin America (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay). China is likely the most notoriously known for such practices due to its stringent once child policy. “As in India, sex imbalances in China may be exacerbating the trade of women, both internally and across borders. According to official Chinese statistics from 1990 to 1999, on average 8,000 women per year were rescued from forced marriages by authorities (“Broken Bodies - Broken Dreams: Violence against Women (IRIN)).”

The last census in India was done in 2001, the next is due in 2011, the results of this census may be a shocking eye opener to the legacy of infanticide and feticide, as well as to India’s growing internal trafficking problem.

On April 30th, 2008 India’s Infanticide Shame and on October 29th, 2007 I posted India’s Missing Girls, please see both post for more information and background on the topic.

345 suspects, of which an estimated 290 where adult women charged as prostitutes, have been arrested in a child-sex sting.  How many of the women arrested where actually victims of trafficking is unknown.  In addition some 21 children where rescued as a result of the raids. Over a period of five days, in 16 cities, the FBI,  have been conducting sting operations to catch the those involved with these criminal networks, which prey on young and vulnerable children. The cities targeted in the sting operation where: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; Detroit; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, MD.; Oakland; Phoenix; Reno.; Sacramento; Tampa; Toledo and Washington.

The stings which are dubbed, “Operation Cross Country”, is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative, which combines efforts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is now in it’s 5th year. This is the largest operation of this type in the initiatives history, however some 308 individuals have been convicted and more importantly the initiative’s efforts has see the recovery of 433 children. The Innocence Lost Initiative was established in 2003 in an effort to tackle the increasing problem of child sex trafficking and prostitution in the United States.

“Child trafficking for the purposes of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale or trade,” said Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. “These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st Century slavery. We are proud to have worked hand-in-hand with the FBI and Justice Department in a partnership that is unprecedented, historic, and working” (FBI press release).

In an FBI statement Our Criminal Investigative Division partnered with the Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice and with the nonprofit National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to bring together state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers. The initiative’s 24 task forces and working groups have recovered 433 children to date and seized over $3 million in assets.

At a press conference, an excerpt of which can be seen in the video below, FBI Director Robert Mueller said ;

“The sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes. What is different as we stand here today is that we are faced with the increasing use of social network sites and other advances in technology to carry out these crimes and facilitate these criminal enterprises.”

While the efforts and scale of the Innocence Lost Initiative are grand, the full scale of the problem remains even more imposing than one could imagine. The US government has stated that there are some 17,500 victims of sex trafficking in the United States each year, more than half of which are children. Just how many more have been funneled through this high commodities market over the years is unknown, and each child is one child too many. Please see my previous article,Trafficking and Slavery in the US, for more information.

Please see my other posts on Child Trafficking. Please also see my pages on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Links, Human Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and Documentaries, and Slavery and Trafficking Related Books for more information.


In other US news the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, June 25, 2008, that child rape doesn’t merit capital punishment . In a 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision, which overturned death penalty laws in Louisiana and five other states. See more in the NY Times article, Justices Bar Death Penalty for the Rape of a Child.

New polio threat prompts mass vaccination campaign, as seven million children in nine of the 11 provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being vaccinated against polio, a disease thought to have been eradicated in the vast country. The campaign, which began on 19 June, targets children up to the age of five, the age group worst affected by polio. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, according to the WHO.

Condom use not catching on among youth, in spite of massive spending on efforts to counter HIV/AIDS, experts warn that many young Thais are still having unsafe sex. “Many people know HIV is transmitted by having sex,” he said. “We also know we should stand up and give our seat to old people on the bus, but we don’t do it,” Sittichok Chaisupasin, a 16-year-old peer educator.

Typhoon Fengshen death toll rises to 224, as it moved out of the Philippines on 23 June towards China, leaving at least 224 dead, hundreds missing and thousands homeless, according to the Philippine National Red Cross and Office of Civil Defence. Heavy rains and winds of up to 195km an hour caused landslides, flash floods and storm surges.

Landmines impede civilians’ return to volatile Arghandab, as dozens of landmines have been discovered in Arghandab District, in the southern province of Kandahar. It is estimated that some 60 people, many of which are children, are killed each month in the country by landmines. Millions of landmines were dumped across Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s, killing and wounding over 70,000 people so far, according to the United Nations Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan (UNMAC). In other news, insecurity, uncertainty stop return of Afghan refugees, from Pakistan. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has repatriated 3.3 million Afghans since 2002, including 120,000 from Pakistan in 2008, but some two million registered Afghan refugees remain in Pakistan. The number of unregistered refugees is unknown.

US accuses LRA of abuses, calls for a quick peaceful solution. “The United States condemns the recent LRA attacks on Sudanese Peoples’ Liberation Army forces at Nabanga, Sudan, and elsewhere, as well as the LRA’s abductions and other abuses of innocent civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Southern Sudan,” said a statement issued on 18 June. Along with four of his commanders Kony is charged by the ICC with carrying out abductions, killings, rape and conscription of Ugandan children as fighters among other war crimes. Some 30,000 children in northern Uganda have been abducted and forcibly inscripttion into the LRA. Government welcomes Kony’s “change of heart” but rules out more talks; “We only hope that he will put his pronouncement into practice. We note, however, that negotiations were concluded and there will not be a re-opening of the negotiations whatsoever,” Capt Chris Magezi, spokesman for the government delegation, said on 23 June.

Countries which are involved in conflict and strife are seeing an increasing use of violence against children, including kidnapping, torture and even murder. UNICEF issued a statement on the continued abduction, torture and rape of children around the world, saying;

“It is everyone’s duty to ensure children are safe from harm, and governments have a responsibility to enact and enforce measures that provide a protective environment for all children”.

Countries for which UNICEF has reported similar ochering incident in a number of countries including Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq and Haiti.

In CAR armed gangs have profited from the conflict ridden countries vitality and instability, focusing on rural communities for which their terrorizing often includes kidnapping children and holding them for ransom. Earlier this month both CAR and Chad had agreed to the Release of Child Soldiers , however a number of armed groups continue to increase their ranks of child soldiers.

The DRC has seen thousands of children forcibly recruited by armed militant groups to be used as child soldiers, porters and sex slaves. UNICEF has estimated that some 30,000 child soldiers are in place in the DRC, many are girls and the situation has been noticeably on the increase as seen in my post, Child Soldiers in the Congo are Increasing

In Iraq the number of reports of children recruited and used by militias and insurgent groups are increasing, as is the abduction of girls who “are increasingly subject to murder, kidnapping and rape, or are being abducted and trafficked within or outside Iraq for sexual exploitation”.

UNICEF has paid particular attention to the Impoverished of Haiti, where kidnappings have become all too common. Since the beginning of 2008 alone more than 50 children have been abducted, more than half of which where girls. Earlier this month on June 4th UNICEF made a nation wide call to halt the kidnappings of Haitian children, the call came after a recent incident where a 16-year-old hostage was murdered and other hostages, including infants, where lynched and rape. The call from UNICEF was joined by Haitians demonstrating against the kidnappings in the streets of Port-au-Prince. UNICEF estimates that some 2,000 children are trafficked each year to the Dominican Republic, and another 1,000 are working as spies, messengers or soldiers for armed gangs in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

According to the Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 issued by the Secretary General of the United Nations, the number of armed groups and government forces using child soldiers increased from 40 in 2006 to 57 in 2007. The issues, such as poverty, disease and economic destabilization that face children in conflict countries are only compounded by the increasing violence against children. As the use of rape as a weapon of war, conscription of child soldiers, and other violence, including gender based violence, that directly targets children, not only exacerbates the conflict itself, but impedes the post conflict recovery for not only the children, but their entire community and the country on the whole. Therefore it is essential that individual states and the international community on the whole end the long running impunity of these violent crimes, and take greater steps to see that children are no longer used as the weapons and pawns of war.

Waging Peace, a British NGO, issued a report stating that between 7,000 and 10,000 Darfurian children abducted from refugee camps in Chad are serving as child soldiers. Please also see my other posts on Child Soldiers. The report comes right after the earlier report this month on the Release of Child Soldiers in Chad.  Please  also see my other posts such as, Despite Increased Aid Efforts We Are Still Failing the Children of Darfur

In other news on the situation Darfur international negotiators have called the prospects for new peace negotiations about Darfur “dim.” In an effort to revive the peace process, the UN and AU are working to appoint a joint mediator, which would replace the current negotiators. All of this comes right as the Sudanese government stated its readiness for a ceasefire and peace negotiations, so long as JEM is banned from participating. The JEM and SLM movements currently reject the idea of peace talks, while the SLM-Unity movement stated its intention to launch attacks on Khartoum. Additionally the civil war between the Northern and Southern regions of Sudan was nearly reignited due to a boundary dispute in the Abyei region. The dispute has left many of the residents of Abyei displaced and the town nearly destroyed.

It is painfully clear that the situations in both Sudan and Chad will not come to a clear peaceful resolution soon, and that the children will continue to be swept up in the ciaos until  a true peace can be found and stability finds its way to the region.