There is a dirty little secret here in the US that no one really wants to talk about: not our government, not our politicians, and especially not our neighbors. It has to do with human and sex trafficking. Recently CNN did a whole piece on this and as soon as they did a whole lot of misinformation was thrown at it and then the topic just went away. Human and sex trafficking has been on the rise for some time. The question is, why?
Well human and sex trafficking are pretty much the same thing in the sense that a person is a being abducted or taken away from their homeland without them realizing what is actually happening (usually it starts off with misleading the person into making them believe that they are going to be able to work and offer a better life to their family and loved ones), human and sex trafficking outcomes are a whole different ballgame. Human trafficking usually ends up with the person being forced into some sort of labor. Like making shoes or working in terrible conditions in some factory or on a building site where most people wont work because of the danger involved. Sex trafficking on the other hand has to do with forcing girls into prostitution and having sex. Unfortunately this is also being done to lots of girls under the age of eighteen. So not only is it a terrible crime already, but robbing a girl of her innocent youth.
The real issue is not only that this is being done, but why it is being done. The truth is that as long as prostitution is illegal and not monitored by our government like it is in Amsterdam, then there will always be a black market for this. The debate over legalizing prostitution is quite taboo here in the states but we truly need to get over this as it is causing a lot of harm to many girls. Not only because of the black market of sex, but also because of the hygiene and cleanliness. There are lots of things we as citizens can do to help stop sex trafficking. If you care to learn more about this subject and end this vicious cycle, there is a great DVD out called Svetalna's Journe that outlines exactly what is going on in this industry and can be seen at http://istoptraffic.com
As the director of the Teen Support Institute, Sergio works directly with teenagers as a life coach for teenagers on helping them solve many challenges in life and transition into adulthood. Sergio believes its important for teens and young adults to learn the secrets of life now versus waiting until they get older to figure things out. http://teensupport.com