This past week has been one of the most challenging weeks I’ve had in a long time. I am typically an upbeat and positive person. I work hard at maintaining a certain level of optimism despite what may be going on around me.
I try not to allow the negativity of the world to affect me mentally and emotionally. I don't watch the news or read articles because I find it entirely too depressing.
In many ways, I was completely unaware of just how much pain, suffering, and injustice exists in the world today.
However, this past weekend, I started going down the rabbit hole of the heinous crime of human trafficking.
Once I started seeing social media posts about human trafficking and the conspiracy theories surrounding it, I felt called to look into it further.
I knew this evil crime existed around the world, but I had no idea how prevalent it is, especially here in the U.S.
The more I discovered, the more helpless I felt.
Realizing those in power, like politicians and celebrities, may be involved in this insidious crime was devastating for me.
The more you look at the various pieces of the puzzle, the more likely it seems that some of those in the highest powers are involved in pedophilia and sex trafficking.
I felt called to share some of what I have learned to bring more awareness to what is going on in this country and worldwide.
I sincerely believe it is time for us to become more conscious of these issues and do what we can to join forces in the fight against evil.
Human trafficking is an epidemic in the United States as well as around the world.
Children do not have a voice to stand up for themselves when they are victimized, sexually exploited, and abused.
It is our job as adults to join in the fight against the most evil among us.
I wanted to share some facts about human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and the rise of these heinous crimes to bring more awareness to this issue.
Human trafficking, also referred to as modern-day slavery, is the fastest growing criminal enterprise worldwide.
There are approximately 40 million people enslaved today, 10 million are children.
The two most common forms of trafficking are forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Human trafficking generates over 100 billion dollars annually. Two-thirds comes from commercial sexual exploitation, while the rest is from forced economic exploitation, including domestic work, agriculture, child labor, and related activities.
There are more people enslaved today than any other time in the history of the world, including when slavery was legal.
Between 18,000 and 20,000 victims are trafficked into the United States every year.
Americans are the number 1 producer and consumer of child pornography.
In the United States, trafficking is most prevalent in New York, Texas, California, and Florida.
In 2019, there were 421,394 reports of missing children in the United States.
800,000+ children go missing every year
1 in 5 children are sexually solicited while on the Internet before the age of 18.
Over 1 million children are exploited each year in the commercial sex trade.
On average a trafficked child is victimized 5 times per day in the U.S.
Every 30 seconds a child is stolen for sex, slave labor, or organ harvesting around the world.
As if human trafficking isn’t devastating enough, the coronavirus proves to have exasperated the problem. Child exploitation has increased dramatically as a result of the virus.
Children are incredibly vulnerable during this pandemic and reported cases of child abuse are rising significantly.
Loss of shelter, economic stress, and a lack of available resources make children even more susceptible to predators – and this pandemic has proven to be no different.
This past April, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 4.2 million reports of online child abuse and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
An increase of 2.2 million from the previous month and an increase of 1.2 million from April 2018.
You can read more about this by visiting: Why Online Exploitation Is The Next Public Health Crisis.
Human trafficking and sexual exploitation are incredibly complicated and overwhelming issues.
However, the more we raise awareness and openly discuss the magnitude of the situation, the more lives we can save.
Below are a few organizations that fight against human trafficking, and I urge you to visit their websites and find a way to get involved:
July 30th is World Day Against Human Trafficking. You can visit ourrescue.org to learn more about how you can join in the fight.
Let’s be the voice for the voiceless and spread awareness about what is happening to innocent and vulnerable children all over the globe.
