 |
| Photo from: http://communities.washingtontimes.com |
Drug trade, human trafficking, weapon trade. This is the respective
order of the most popular criminal enterprises. How can human trafficking be
ranked second? It brings in over $32 billion a year, $9.5 billion coming from sex trafficking alone. And what better place to find girls and boys vulnerable and desperate enough to coax into sexual exploitation than those living on the streets.
Homeless youth end up on the streets for a variety of reasons. Some are discharged out of foster care with no place to go, others are released from juvenile correction facilities and have cannot find jobs and have no means of support. Some youth run away from home because of the emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse they receive at home. Some were kicked out for being pregnant or because their family did not agree with their sexual or gender identity.
Traffickers see homeless youth as easy prey. They normally had hard lives, often including some kind of trauma. Their parents beat them, kicked them out, they have a criminal record, etc. They are vulnerable; give a girl some food and place to stay and she will begin to trust. And that's when the traffickers turn on them. In other cases, the victims have no other choice, because they have no way to support themselves. The only thing they have to sell is their body. The homeless youth will often look for escort services or welcome a pimp in hopes of making a living.
One in four homeless people interviewed at the Covenant House were at some point victims of
trafficking or had engaged in sex acts in order to have food or shelter. The appropriate term for this is survival sex. Homelessness leaves people feeling vulnerable enough that they are willing to do things that they would not normally do and open enough that they can be forced into acts they may not otherwise perform. Homelessness is more than a matter of not having food and shelter. It affects the person as a whole: mind, body, and soul.
This is a great post about something that has never occurred to me. It really captures the feeling of homelessness and explores the problems that today's homeless youth endure. Your closing sentence summed up everything very nicely!
ReplyDeleteThis topic is really interesting, and left me with a couple questions. Are most of the trafficked homeless victims underage? Is there a connection between child trafficking and homelessness? I read the Huffington Post article and found that to be really interesting, but I'm also wondering if you found out what they group under "trafficking", as they really only elaborated on sex work. Overall very detailed, and I'm anxious to hear what stories you came across.
ReplyDeleteThe connection between trafficking and homelessness seems strong. Does this affect adults as well as children? If so, any programs in place to aid victims, or do victims not want to reach out for help for fear of being charged with prostitution?
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the factors that creates such a strong climate for trafficking in New Orleans, which is what my presentation is on. We have high rates of homelessness and poverty in youth, which leaves an already vulnerable group of people even more vulnerable to exploitation.
ReplyDelete