Opinion
Human Trafficking The Tragic Social Evil
by
Rajesh Ramasubramanian
Today December 1, is World AIDS day and on this day, I want to throw light on a dark
and murky world….the world of Human Trafficking.
“Traffickers violate the basic human rights of victims to be free from
sexual abuse, exploitation and slavery. The sexual servitude experienced
by those trafficked for prostitution intrudes into and violates a
human’s privacy and personal integrity.”
Let me tell you, I live in the UK and hence I am talking about human
trafficking within the EU. But the situation is appalling and atrocious
in every part of the world; South America, US, Europe, Asia, Australia,
Middle East, Russia and Africa.
In a landmark judgement, the first of its kind in the UK, an Albanian
gang was awarded a prison term of 18 years in jail for illegally
smuggling 63 young women (some as young as 13) into the UK for
prostitution.
While these terrified young women were beaten, tortured and forced to
sleep with upto 50 men everyday, their captors earned anywhere between
£15000 to £18000 a day.
According to estimates by the United Nations and the the Organisation
for security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Commission some
500000 to 700000 women and children are trafficked annually by global
criminal networks. There are about 20000 women in London alone, who are
smuggled from eastern European countries.
Albania is the county most involved in the sex trade and a primary
trafficking point, with women and children being lured to go to the West
with false promises of marriage, jobs or education. Once an all-powerful
communist police state is now a country beyond the rule of law. The
price of a girl trafficked can be between $2,500 and $4,000, with up to
$10,000 being paid if she is a virgin. They are bought and sold like
chattels to satisfy perverted sexual appetites, to provide slave labour,
or, worst of all, to be “harvested” for their organs and body parts so
that the rich can live at their expense.
Most trafficking victims are in intensely vulnerable situations; they
come from very disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, may not speak
English, may be illiterate, have been subjected to severe forms of
violence and abuse and suffer from ill-health.
Human trafficking should stop. It is a disgraceful and shameful stigma
on a modern day 21st century society. It is ironical that even with
increase in education and literacy amongst people worldwide, women
trafficking is the fastest growing business in the world and more men
are visiting brothels than ever before, paying for sex.
I would not class 90% of these women as prostitutes because they are
forced/cheated into it. Men should get this into their head; to have sex
with a woman without a consent is classified as a rape. So anyone who
has had sex with one of these innocent girls has actually raped her.
Perhaps it is almost impossible to stop this tragedy; but at any rate
the infamous wretches who trade in it may be intimidated by publicity
being given to their acts, and the indignation of the public being
roused in consequence. What can we imagine more dreadful than kidnapping
a confiding unsuspecting girl, in some cases we may say child. I repeat,
what can be more horrible than transporting a girl, as it were, by false
representations from her native land to a country of strangers, and
condemning her against her will to a life of the most revolting slavery
and degradation, without her having been guilty of any offence against
an individual or against the laws of the land?
Think about it. And if you feel strongly, spread the word.
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