What is going on?

Mexico and Guatemala are two of the main countries were victims are kidnapped and exported to a different country, human trafficking criminals use these countries to distribute and cross over to other places, corruption makes it possible for them to pay a 'fair' price. Brazil is the second country whose women become prostitutes mainly in Europe, followed by the Dominican Republic, where women are sold to Nordic countries, Spain, Italy, and Austria. Colombians are illegally traded in Spain and Hong Kong. Argentina and Mexico offer sexual tourism in their coastal and tourist areas with women and children from the Mexico, Dominican Republic and Paraguay. Costa Rica has the greatest affluence of sexual tourism by prostituting about 5,000 children from many different countries. In the United States things don't look any better: about 100,000 and 400,000 children are sexually exploited each year. One out of three children that run away from home end up as prostitutes in less than 48 hours.

Other victims of human trafficking leave their homes looking to meet their fiancé, some mysterious person they have met on the Internet, thru newspapers or magazines that present beautiful pictures of their promising boyfriends and their fancy homes. But when they arrive to their new ‘home’, they find out that those promises were not real, and that their fiancé is not real either. They are sold and abused sexually and physically. They are often forced to take drugs to be easier to control and to be transferred from one place to another from one city to another. Many times victims of human trafficking are not aware of what country they are in or for how long they have been there. Victims are put to work 15 to 20 hours a day serving and pleasing 10 to 35 men a day, men of all races, ages, and conditions. If they become pregnant, women are forced to unsafe clandestine abortions; if they become sick they are abandoned or sold to a lower trader.

Many people ask how it is possible for those women to be cheated on so easily. Traficants seduce them by telling them nice words and making them believe that they can have an easier life, that they deserve better, and that they can provide and care for them and their families. They leave their homes with the firm intention to work hard and escape misery. It never comes to their mind that they may end up as sexual slaves. Others apply and take promising jobs on newspapers to work in the US or Europe. Teen-age girls feel forced to take on the opportunity to get a work-permit and make some easy money as dancers, masseurs, house keepers, elder sitters, manufacturing, or hostess at luxurious restaurants. They all feel it is their responsibility to help and support their families by working in a country that might offer better opportunities.

In recent years, the US implemented important laws that differentiate prostitution and human traffic, allowing victims to remain free even after their kidnappers are pronounced guilty. But this is not enough. We all have a piece of responsibility and education is key in forming stronger men and women that acknowledge respect and freedom.

- Dr. Ana Nogales