World Wide Sexual Slavery Factors

You probably know that trafficking happens all around out world but do you know why? Do you know the factors that keep this multi-billion industry going? Do you know who is being targeted and taken advantage of.

The image above is a great starting place to begin to understand the cycle of abuse and control traffickers aim to hold over survivors. This image is from the Polaris Project, a US National organization that founded the national hotline for trafficking.

The pattern you can find in most every story of sexual slavery is this:

Vulnerability- poverty, orphaned, neglected, lack of resources, disability, unstable homes environment, youth, abuse etc.

Deception/Debt- promised a job, college course, sent away falsely, sold unknowingly etc. Traffickers will tell victims they "owe" large amounts of money and that they need to "work" to pay it off. However, the victims never sees this money and debt always increases.

Isolation- Isolation is key to keeping a victim in the control of a trafficker. The trafficking aspect of sex trafficking refers to the victim being transported but this is not only for trafficker to sell but rather to have the victim break ties with any family or friends or aspects of their previous life. The trafficker works to make the victim feel isolated and unwanted as if they had nowhere else to go.

Made more Vulnerable- Victims have their documentation taken away, they can contract diseases, often are malnourished, live in poor conditions, and are physically abused. The trafficker will continue to keep their victim cut off and in need of them.

This cycle is a dangerous trap to anyone vulnerable. Traffickers actively work to keep their victims vulnerable in these ways and more.