Misused And Abused

Alana Hunt
10B

(Image from Forthesakeofgod.org)

Imagine being forced to sell your body at a young age and the cost of it is being emotionally, mentally and physically battered. Human trafficking is believed to be one of the fastest-growing criminal industries in the world. Human trafficking recruits by kidnapping, harboring in brothels with really bad treatment, transporting all over the world and obtain mostly women for the purpose of various forms of exploitation. Often times the victims come from poor background families or are just low class females that the government wouldn’t care for, like Cambodia or India. The victims are forced into prostitution by intimidation or being beaten. Sometimes if they don’t comply they get killed.

Women most of the time, after coming out from such a situation suffer from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. According to Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatment for Victims of Human Trafficking, 65 percent of the women who were sex trafficked had a sudden emotional or physical reactions when reminded of the most hurtful or traumatic events that occurred. 61 percent avoided activities that reminded them of the traumatic or hurtful events like not interacting with males or partaking in sexual activities. Also, 75 percent of them had recurrent thoughts or memories of the terrifying events. Girls as young as 10 years old are being sexually trafficked and abused. To be around the ages of 12 to 14 and to be at risk of having HIV or an STD is really hard to fathom. A 2008 study out of the Harvard School of Public Health found that 38 percent of women trafficked from Nepal to India for sex were returned to Nepal HIV-positive. Human trafficking does not only pose a threat to the women who are involved but also to the public who pay for services from a young lady who may have already been infected. Which can most likely be transferred back to the customer’s spouse at home. Then there are the men that receive HIV from the prostitutes and go around raping women spreading the disease. Leaving it more rampant.

Meena Hasina was only eight years old when she was kidnapped and trafficked. She was so young when she was kidnapped. She was brought to a rural house where she was kept until she was mature enough to attract customers. When she turned twelve, five months before she got her first period, there were also a high demand for virgins. The men back then thought that virgins will cleanse them and heal the diseases they picked up before. Which is why they took a lot of money from Meena’s first client. When Meena first got pregnant she said “I used to think that I never wanted to be a mother, because my life had been wasted and I didn’t want to waste another life.” When her daughter Naina was born, Ainul, the female caretaker of the brothel who was also a prostitute in her younger years, took her away from Meena “to stop her from breast-feeding customers who disliked prostitutes who were lactating and partly to keep the baby as a hostage to ensure that Meena would not try to flee.” Soon after Meena got pregnant again, this time with a son she named Vivek. Meena wanted her kids to stay with her but was told by Ainul “you are a prostitute you have no honor.” Being told that “you have no honor” to have your own children is degrading. Not only is it degrading but it also takes away the little happiness Meena thought they had. Soon after Meena escaped. Then her son Vivek followed in her foot-steps by escaping to find her. When he found her they went to find help  to get Naina out the brothel . “Apne Aap Women Worldwide” an organization that fights sex slavery in India raided the brothel in order to get Naina back to Meena. At first Naina declined Meena as her mother but she knew the only way she would be able to get out her predicament was to comply. Although Meena is now out casted in her village because of the raid but she still walks around with her head held high because she knows what she did was right and most importantly she has her kids back with her.

Human trafficking is not a situation we should keep ignoring. Day by day little girls are being kidnapped and being coerced to do stuff they are not meant to be doing. We can raise awareness by doing more research on how we can help change some of laws that the government in places like Cambodia and India that does not stand for women rights. We can also donate to organizations that help fight against human trafficking. Therefore, more people can get involved and know more about what’s going on and how they can help.