It is human trafficking, but mostly child prostitution and sex trade, when young girls in America are being sold to sex traffickers to produce tons of money as much as $32,000 per week or $290 million dollars per year, CNN reports. Based on CNN, human trafficking is described as the second most lucrative job in the world next to drug and narcotic trafficking.
Child sex trade is alarmingly and disturbingly growing rampant in places in the US, such as Atlanta. Atlanta is a big city, with lots of busy streets and multiple customers going in and out the state, making it hard for authorities for to catch traffickers. Nonetheless, even if there are existing laws against assault, sex, rape, or prostitution, sex offenders and traffickers still find their way continually to promote these crimes.
Actress Jada Pinkett Smith partnered with CNN for a documentary entitled "Children for Sale: The Fight To End Human Trafficking," which focuses on a specific victim she called Sacharay, who was 15 then when she found herself in the arms of different men everyday. It was also reported that these men leave tattoo marks on the body of the children.
After being bullied a lot, Sacharay recalls meeting an older "friend" who eventually introduced her to a trafficker. She told Smith, "One day I was like, I can't do this no more. I was in pain. I had sex with almost 40 guys in one day, and I was so tired, and I said, 'I can't do this no more,'" yet it did not stop beyond her trafficker's threats that he would kill her.
The fight against human trafficking is difficult and heartbreaking most of the time, since teenage victims usually deny what they have been through, according to CNN. The report also mentions that during a raid, they met a young girl who does not want any help. "We don't want to arrest her. But she would rather go to jail than a treatment facility. She said she's 'happy being miserable,"' Sgt. Torrey Kennedy of the DeKalb County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit said.
Sex trafficking especially among children is a serious and heartbreaking case, Smith told CNN. "People who are having sex with children are not johns and tricks. They are child rapists and pedophiles, so we should call them what they are." Nonetheless, Prof. Kevin Bales, cofounder of Free the Slaves Project between Essam and Dalai Obaid Foundation (EDOF) and CNN says that with some effort, cooperation, and collaboration, this kind of slavery can be literally brought to an end.
