Dear Editor,
The movie Sound of Freedom has recently shone a light on a problem we all need to care about, the worldwide trafficking of children.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (unodc.org), the definition of human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by threat, abduction, fraud, or deception.” Abuse for exploitation equals modern-day slavery.
The statistics of human trafficking are shocking: 40.3 million enslaved persons worldwide, 400,000 Americans trafficked annually, 80% women and children, 17,500 estimated foreign nationals trafficked in the United States, 65% of victims recruited through the internet. In 2021 alone, 33% of victims were recruited by a family member or caregiver, and once trafficked for sex the average life expectancy is just seven years.
There are four kinds of human trafficking, researched and documented. Number one is sex trafficking. The complete scope of sex trafficking in the United States is unknown, but it is a fact that many women and children are sold for sex against their will in all 50 states.
Number two is child sex trafficking. According to the office of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, more than half of all sex trafficking victims nationwide are underage. The average child’s age is just 12 years old, and many are much younger.
Forced labor is number three, traffickers of forced labor exploit foreigners, kids in foster care, and seasonal workers in agriculture who come to the United States with an H2A visa.
And number four is human smuggling. Not quite the same as human trafficking, but there is overlap. It involves desperate people paying thousands of dollars to professional smugglers to get them across the U.S. border, with an estimated 2.3 million illegal immigrants crossing the border last year alone. And so many of these illegal immigrants end up abandoned or turned over to human traffickers.
For anyone interested, Intercessors for America (ifapray.org) has a lot of good information, including a special report that gives a list of some U.S. and international ministries that focus on outreach to human trafficking victims who need our prayers. Also, government agencies are listed that work against these crimes on the federal, state, and local levels.
The emphasis of my writing this to our local newspaper is to get more people engaged in prayer, to raise awareness of these crimes, and to inform parents of the life-and-death reasons for not allowing minor children to have free access to smartphones. And finally, to contact our governor, senators, representatives, and all officials representing us that we need a solution now! This is a national emergency.
Margaret Gail Segars Rainey, A concerned grandma in Eatonton