Saturday, December 13, 2014

Child sex-trafficking part 1: Liz Williamson's story



Human trafficking is a $32 billion a year international industry involving as many as 27 million victims, who each produce an average of $13,000 a year in profits for their masters. Trafficking is a crime that involves force, fraud or coercion to compel someone to engage in labor, or commercial sex. Sex trafficking is the most prevalent type followed closely by labor. 80% of the victims are women, and 70% of those are exploited for sex. Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children.
http://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview
http://www.cicatelli.org/titlex/downloadable/human%20trafficking%20statistics.pdf
http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/UNVTF_fs_HT_EN.pdf
In the U.S. as many as 100,000 children are being sold for prostitution and producing pornography, and another 200,000 children including runaways, homeless, and children from abusive families are potential victims according to recent studies by law enforcement and child welfare organizations. California is one of the most active areas in the nation for child sex trafficking, and Sacramento in particular has been cited as the 5th or 6th most active city in the U.S. for child sex trafficking. In this report on child sex trafficking in California, KPFA reporter Tom Herriman talks to law enforcement officials, child welfare specialists and to a woman who was sold for sex by her parents starting at age six.