As you are reading this, about 27 million people are trapped in modern day slavery. Half of them are children. The things that are happening everyday in this holocaust we call Human Trafficking are hard to imagine. Little children as young as 3 years old being sold for sex, baby factories, cages and brothels. Every 30 seconds another child is captured...
Below you will find statistics and facts about human trafficking, as well as a list of more resources. As you read these facts, don't lose sight of the simple truth that ONE life matters. That we can Rescue HER because SHE is worth it. Don't let the millions you can not help distract you from the fact that you can help the ONE! That is the reason Rescue Her exists. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
Together we can make a difference!
Here are some mind blowing facts about what is happening:
*The United Nations estimate that over 27 million people worldwide are trafficked for forced labor or sexual exploitation.
*According to some estimates, approximately 80% of trafficking involves sexual exploitation, and 19% involves labor exploitation.
*32 billion dollars is made every year off the bodies of young girls & women in sex trafficking.
*80% are female and 50% are children, the large majority forced into the commercial sex trade.
*The average victim trapped in the sex trade is forced to have sex 20 times a day.
*More than 2/3 of sex trafficked children suffer additional abuse at the hands of their traffickers.
*Trafficked children are significantly more likely to develop mental health problems, abuse substances, engage in prostitution as adults, and either commit or be victimized by violent crimes later in life.
*Trafficking victims normally don't get help because they think that they or their families will be hurt by their traffickers, or that they will be deported.
*An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 100,000 American childrenbeing exploited in the commercial sex industry annually.
*An estimated 2.5 million children, the majority of them girls, are sexually exploited in the multibillion dollar commercial sex industry
* In Asia's largest red-light district, there are three square kilometers crammed with an estimated 40,000 women earning at least $200 million a year in revenue for their traffickers. An estimated 95% of these women’s children become prostitutes.
* In America, victims of pimp- controlled sex trafficking are commonly forced to meet quotas of $500 to $1,000 a night! Victims working a truck stop typically earn $5 - $100 per sex act. All earnings are confiscated by the pimp.
*161 Countries are currently identified as affected by human trafficking: 127 countries of origin; 98 transit countries; 137 destination countries. (Note: Countries may be counted multiple times and categories are not mutually exclusive.)
* 20% of all human trafficking in the US comes through Texas at some point.
* National human trafficking hotlines receives more calls from Texas than any other state in the US and 15% of those calls are from the Dallas- Fort Worth area.
* There are an estimated 5000 brothels disguised as massage parlors in the U.S. Victims of sex trafficking within massage parlors are forced to have sex with 6 to 10 men a day.
* The US Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section reports that age 12 is the average age of entry into pornography and prostitution in the U.S.
*An estimated one in five women will be a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime.
Sources: Polaris Project; UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Trafficking in Persons: Global Patterns: April 2006; Initiative against Sexual Trafficking; National Coalition Against Domestic Violence ; U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report: 2007; UN.Gift; United Nations; Kevin Bales of Free the Slaves; International Labor Organization; United States, Department of State; UNICEF; U.S Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons; Source: U.S. Department of State, The Facts About Child Sex Tourism: 2005.