day 15 - child prostitution

The majority of trafficking victims worldwide are between the ages of 18 and 24; but it, unfortunately, is common to see forced prostitution start at a much younger age. The demand for virgins in the market drives the age of trafficked girls down to as young as eight or nine years old, even before the girls have reached puberty. At eight years old, I was sitting in my second-grade class - not in a brothel.

Child prostitution is perhaps the most horrendous aspect of trafficking. What would happen if we took those girls out of their prison and put them in a school, where they belong? There is so much potential in these girls whose lives are wasting away in a life of forced prostitution.

And I literally mean that their lives are “wasting away”. These girls are forced to sell their bodies to countless unknown partners, putting them at a high risk for contracting an STD or HIV/AIDS. Add the risk of men that don’t use condoms, the purchase of virgins as a “cure” for HIV, and the additional years of forced prostitution that a young victim may face, and the girl is buried alive.   

Escape is possible, in some cases, but it may be a brief freedom. There are stories of girls that have escaped from a brothel and gone to a police station for help. Instead of helping them or cracking down, some officers simply return the girl to the brothel (which merits terrible punishment) or send her to a new one. These “systems of justice” are anything but.

Another terrible aspect of forced prostitution is that an owner may sedate a girl that refuses to do what she is told, drugging her into compliance. This, over time, creates an addiction that may be more difficult to escape than the life of forced prostitution. Even if a girl manages to escape or have her freedom purchased, she may find herself in withdrawal. Consequently, she may return to the brothel to obtain drugs, prompting a downward spiral: With a drug addiction, a woman’s only choice for employment may be in prostitution, which, in turn, pays for her drug use; which in turn, keeps her coming back to the brothel. There is no need for her owner to worry about her escaping her prison. She is chained to it through her addiction.

As we discussed yesterday, you can improve these conditions and see success, but they are secondary manifestations of the root cause of the problem. The answer to stopping the cycle of forced prostitution is by providing women with an education. Not only would these women experience better quality of life, a healthier future (educated women are 3 times as less likely to contract HIV/AIDS), and a more stable economic standing; by supporting each girl’s potential by providing them with an education, the world would benefit from their contributions to society.

Please consider making a charitable donation to help give girls an education in rural Africa.
Donate: Campaign for Female Education

Janna