Sexploitation

Just imagine:

Your parents sold you for rent money. Your boyfriend of two years sold you for a new TV. That job offer in Germany only appeared to be legit. You're kidnapped and smuggled across countless borders. That dream of yours - the dream of a glamorous life in the West - is the most horrifying nightmare imaginable. You're anywhere from 5 to 40 years old, and you'll be raped and beaten repeatedly everyday for the rest of your foreseeable future.

Your body – your life – is probably worth between 100 – 2000 US dollars, depending on your age, appearance and nationality. Even if you do eventually escape the life of a sex slave, you will not come away unscathed. Survivors must endure life-threatening diseases of the body and mind, acute terror and paranoia plaguing their every thought, recurring nightmares and flashbacks, as well as social stigmatization and isolation.

Human trafficking is not limited to sexual exploitation (although this acccounts for approximately 80% of trafficking situations) - millions of men, women and children are forced into situations of servitude, hard labor, and combat situations (ie, child soldiers). Much to the horror of the international community, the trafficking business is booming with over $9.5 billion in revenue is generated every single year. Thus, the buying and selling of human beings is the third most profitable international criminal activity behind the illegal sale of drugs and arms. Of course, guns and drugs are a one-time sale; a woman, on the other hand, can be sold up to twenty times a day, or 7,300 times per year. At $50 to $500 a client, the pimp can pocket $365,000 to $3,650,000 per woman, annually. When a woman is too ill, too old, too much of a risk - she is easily replaceable by any number of potential new victims.

The perfect commodity.

Statistics are mildly unreliable, as the magnitude of the problem is incomprehensible and many suspected victims are never reported. Data from various reputable sources varies drastically with the generally accepted range being between 600,000 and 2 million human beings each year. Approximately 500,000 of these human beings are trafficked from/into the European continent alone, with more than 10,000 of these being women and girls from Bulgaria. Some reports conservatively estimate over 27 million people worldwide are currently held in some form of slavery…some estimate 10 times beyond that. The crisis is reaching epidemic proportions as numbers increase; after all, the supply must meet the demand.

It is the most horrifying of topics to research, and certainly one of the most difficult to digest. The problem is so far-reaching, so entrenched, so profitable, so disgusting that the work of governments and non-governmental organizations seems frustratingly inadequate. If the demand is booming, the supply will be endless. It’s simple economics. Victims come from every single part of the world – no nation or ethnicity is immune. You thought slavery had been eradicated? Think again. It’s everywhere.

My experience at Animus has been interesting, depressing, frustrating and certainly educational. I knew quite a bit about sex trafficking before my arrival – thanks to my very first Model United Nations conference! Unfortunately, like most people in the world, I did not (and still do not) fully understand the gravity and scope of the situation. I never understood how crafty the traffickers can be, and that even the most legitimate of offers – an overseas internship like mine, for example – are oftentimes incredibly believable fronts for trafficking operations. Citizens of Eastern Europe are particularly susceptible targets due to the overwhelming desire of much of the population to find wealth and prosperity abroad. A life in the West is the dream of most young people – it seems that patriotism and optimism were destroyed along with democracy and the economy during former autocratic regimes. Bulgarian women are attractive, intelligent and itching to see a brand new world beyond their borders. I’ve learned all of this from Bulgarians themselves; Animus is an organization for Bulgarian women by Bulgarian women.

Animus (http://www.animusassociation.org) is an interesting NGO with a remarkable number of past and present projects. Most notably, the help line, psychological services, and crisis center/safe house are groundbreaking services that assist innumerable women each year. In addition, Animus is currently working with the tourist sector to recognize and stem sex tourism – particularly within the popular Black Sea coast resort towns. I was also impressed to learn of their ongoing educational seminars (“trainings”) for individuals, organizations, government officials etc. interested in working against human trafficking. This program spans national borders, as many citizens of other Eastern European nations participate. Animus is also hard at work in conjunction with La Strada (http://www.lastrada.org) to expand their influence to the whole of the continent. And finally, the organization lobbies for government reforms – although I have not seen or heard much about this just yet.

I was amazed to see that the organization is fairly small, with no more than 15 people in the office at any one time. These are all women – save one, and he is leaving – who are educated and extraordinarily passionate. Most of them do not speak English, though there are a few who are expertly multilingual. Unfortunately, my rose-colored glasses are officially lifted, as I now see that the typical NGO problems really do plague every NGO. Animus suffers from bad management (particularly in regards to human resources), inefficiency, poor communication and perceived impotence in the large and intimidating realm of the cause. However, I believe the organization has many wonderful and effective programs (ie, incredible potential for serious influence), and I am hoping to help the organization with more effective marketing/communication so that these programs may be better advertised.

As of right now, I am actually building the website for a large upcoming seminar. The work is tedious but just right for me – I stay very busy correcting grammar, working on visuals and researching content. My biggest roadblocks thus far have been a complete lack of direction (umm…I took one HTML course during my freshman year…but I started the project anyway so I could have something to do!), and stubbornness on behalf of the staff – (the worst English grammar imaginable, but they don’t want to change it because they “like the way it sounds.” Ah! Dr. Geller, you’d just die.) They were excited to hear that many of the programs of DVIS/Call Rape in Tulsa are very similar, but not excited to hear my very legitimate input about potential new projects or program extensions. I am hoping that I’ll get some “street cred” as time goes on. I am very aware that there is a LOT I have yet to learn, but I also know that I have at least a little bit to offer too. Overall, I am increasingly optimistic and I hope to do at least one large project that positively affects the organization before I leave. I am learning so much – and the more I learn, the more I want to make a difference.

If you want to learn a little more about trafficking, here are some interesting sites:

www.Notforsalecampaign.org
www.romun.org/documents/Background%20Info/Human%20Trafficking%20Statistics.rtf
www.unodc.org
www.helpsavekids.org
www.us.oneworld.net
www.humantrafficking.org
www.gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Bulgaria.htm
www.mtvexit.org - really interesting videos