How long will the powers-that-be, and well as ordinary people, ignore the need for action, as this article illustrates?
Victor Malarek, a well-known investigative journalist, spoke at the U.S. Department of State [recently about] the global problem of trafficking in women, calling it “a disaster of epic proportions.”
Malarek, author of the book The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade, was introduced by Ambassador John Miller, director of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on human trafficking.
Human trafficking, according to Malarek, continues to flourish unabated because laws already on the books in most countries are not being enforced. He acknowledged that the sex trade “won’t go away,” but he said minimizing it should be a top priority of all nations.
... Malarek had especially harsh words for the “deceptive mantra” of those in favor of legalizing prostitution, saying that in countries where prostitution is legal, organized crime has grown more powerful and human trafficking has increased. ...
In countries where women have access to “real jobs that don’t require them to shed their clothes,” Malarek said, local brothel owners rely on traffickers to keep their brothels stocked with prostitutes from other countries such as Russia, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine.
Nor does legalized prostitution control the spread of HIV/AIDS... There is nothing, he said, to protect the women from the men who use them.
“Tolerance is a dangerous game,” Malarek said. “The decriminalization crowd is a pack of wolves in sheep’s clothing.” The only way to tackle the problem, he said, is “to go after the men who demand the women.”
... Malarek emphasized that trafficking is “a huge human rights abuse” and that dignity for women should be a top priority. According to State Department statistics, about 600,000 to 800,000 people -- mostly women and children -- are trafficked across national boundaries each year. This figure does not include the millions trafficked within their own countries. ...
Read entire article here. Some good links to other sources there as well.
1 comment:
Mr Malarek is an amazing writer.
Reading his book was the first time I had even heard of human trafficking.
I am greatful to have been born in a country where I have been able to enjoy freedom and relative safety, however I am sometimes ashamed of the role our country has played in furthering the problem.
I hope that now with more attention we can start to really impact the forced sex trade and help bring it (at the very least) closer to an end.
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