Pearl Alliance

• By 2010 Sex Trafficking will be the number one crime worldwide
• 1.2 million children are trafficked every year; this is in addition to the millions already held captive by trafficking
• Every 2 minutes a child is being prepared for sexual exploitation
• The average victim is forced to have sex up to 40 times a day
• The average age of a trafficked victim is 14 years old
• Approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years
• Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic
• Between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the USA each year
• The total market value of illicit Sex Trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion
• Asian women are sold to North American brothels for $16,000 each.
• 2 million children are forced into prostitution every year. Half of them live in Asia

Early History of Sex Trafficking

Women and children have been the victims of sex trafficking for thousands of years and it it finally became a political issue in the early 1900s.

In 1902, the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic was drafted. This eventually led to the United States passing the Mann Act of 1910 which "forbids transporting a person across state or international lines for prostitution or other immoral purposes" (www.protectionproject.org).

The United Nations felt it necessary to addressed the problem by the 1949 Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others which was ratified by forty-nine countries around the world.

Common trafficking Patterns

In many places women are lured into trafficking by the promise of a good job in another country. Having no better options, the woman decides to move away, unaware of the torture that lies ahead. Arrangements are made, she is appointed an escort and upon arrival at her destination the woman is taken directly to her employer. At this point she has absolutely no control over the conditions of her employment. After discovering the true nature of her employment it is too late and escape is impossible and dangerous if attempted. Sometimes women receive false marriage proposals from men who plan to sell them into bondage. There are also instances when young girls are sold into the sex trade by their parents who are trying to earn some money. And, of course, many times the women are simply kidnapped.