Community-led activities are an important prevention tool. Sometimes the need to move and the threat of trafficking can emerge very suddenly. The sensitive nature of the issue and the lack of systematic action on trafficking worldwide make information collection a challenge, reflecting the unwillingness of some countries to acknowledge that the problem affected them.

Three cheers for your comments regarding some of the problems in continueing to criminalize prostitution.  Many years ago an article in a woman's magazine made the point that 75% of woman in prostitution were abused sexually as children.  Actually the percentage is higher, and often the kinds of "work" they specialize in doing within the sex industry reflects in an almost compulsive repatition, the most traumatic aspects of the abuse that they suffered.  Ex-prostitues have formed an outreach organization for sex industry workers.  There are also 12 Step programs that, if followed, are extremely healing in the effect.  Continued criminalization of sex industry workers does not help women who are childhood abuse or trauma victims, it revictimizes them. The cases which have come to light in NYC in past years have brought relief to the women when someone escapes or a neighbor suspects women have been held in abusive conditions and report such to police.  I do feel that ads re: "asian" women have tended to predominate the back pages of the Village Voice along with S&M ads.  Saying so is not to discriminate against asian women.  It suggests that a cluster f sex industry workers who likely know or know about each other (or the Madams/etc. they work for) have determined that these ads in the VV attract the bulk of their "clients."  There are other publications which advertise other so-called "specialties" like very high priced, or gay men, etc.  This is because the repeat customers of the sex industry are also drawn in to repeat and compulsive use because of their own histories of trauma. Most important: in the United States, at least, the sex industry as I have discussed above, IS NOT the same as human trafficking and compounding these so-called "industries" only compromises possible interventions in the first and dilutes the horror of the second.  

Passionate, I've been looking for those very New Zealand reports about human trafficking.  As far as I can tell a study hasn't been done since prostitution became legal there.
   We can change police policy toward prostitute's without prostitution becoming legal.  We can change it and we must.  Now.


Florence, modern day reports suggest the numbers of prostitute's who were sexually abused as kids is 90%.  We can have (and need) services to help these people get out of the vicious cycle without prostitution becoming legal.  We just need to change a little bit of police policy and work on setting up shelters and help for these people now, without having to wait for people to decide if it's right to legalize prostitution (it's not).

Good point Holly-developing training materials for law enforcers working to prevent human trafficking and smuggling across borders. Such materials place an emphasis on international cooperation and holistic approaches so as to ensure that responses to trafficking and smuggling do not merely result in new routes employed by the criminals behind these crimes.

There have been studies done, but not very many.

There is a paragraph in this article that briefly talks about the males (johns).  I read a simliar article elsewhere that said the same things about the johns in more detail, but i don't have the link:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_8_63/ai_n25491079/

cathy, you must understand that majority of people in this world are frustrated, aggressive, emotionally immature men who are self-centered and repulsive. they actually get enjoyment out of suffering of others, often the ones who are prettier and better than them. you can't just hope that they will become better human beings and not be pedophiles and rapists. we need to have SEX cards like ebay sellers account and have whores to write reviews on their dirty secrets as men review whores on internet. so the wives and girl friends can stay away from those men with dirty secrets. 

Linda,
I completely agree with you.  Since becoming involved with Change.org and this issue, I have become alert when I read anything about human trafficking in this country.  I have learned that indeed it is a growing problem here in this country but may have missed the signs in this country if it were not for this site causing me to be more alert.  So, I agree, there is definetly a need for education re: t. in this country.  I did receive Amnesty International's Speak Truth To Power which has various international resources and their addresses.  One of these is: Juliana Dogbadzi, c/o International Needs, Ghana/ P.O. Box 690, Dansoman/ Accra, Ghana.  She was a slave (inc. sex) for seventeen years under Trokos, a custom in which very young girls are given to shrine priests in where they become  sex, as well as, shrine slaves living in servitude to atone for alleged crimes of their relatives. The government has  banned this in Ghana due to Juliana's
efforts. 

well the problem with americans is that they are so god fearing yet they are so scared of everything. they are so scared of internet, so scared of what goes on someone's basement and your neighbor's basement. so they lock their door tightly and busy decorating their stupid little homes. wait until your child gets kidnapped and shot at. 

Woman who are prostitute's won't tell their johns if they are being forced into it or don't like it.  The fear of being beaten is to great.  (statistic's show 82% of all prostitute's are beaten).
   johns don't call the police to tell them they are having sex with a slave.  They'd get thrown in jail!  The prostitute's themselves don't call either, even when they are threatened and beaten, because they fear going to jail, too.
    This needs to be changed.  Prostitute victims don't deserve to be in jail (this can be done without legalization).  They need shelters, food, and services set up to help them instead.  And then this would leave the police to go after the real abuser's - the johns and pimps (who would not go to jail under legalization).

I wish the solution could be that simple Matthew, I really do. But because it isn't, it continues to persist. "Pimps" and traffickers have caught onto the fact that some clients/johns will express interest in their "products and services" when really their ultimate goal is to rescue the women and girls being held captive. I have friends who work for several wonderful organizations who used to rescue girls this way. 
Human trafficking is a lot like the mafia. The people in charge really do know what they're doing and they aren't stupid. Once they notice that so many of their "products" are running away to freedom with rescuers posing as clients, you can be sure they'll do what it takes to put an end to it ASAP.
What's started to happen is that some traffickers will routinely pose as clients/johns themselves and ask the women the questions you've posed ("Are you here on your own free will? etc). Women who say they are not there on their own free will risk an array of horrific punishments beyond the imagination. True rescuers also face a much greater risk of being killed now that traffickers are so aware of this ploy.
I understand how hard it may be to picture a girl or woman being forced into prostitution yet not asking for help from apparently obvious sources (the clients), but I hope this comment will help you begin to understand the complexity and sophistication of the trafficking system.

they not only need just shelter, they need most secure facility they can stay and have GPS system installed in their bodies in case they get kidnapped again, resold, or killed. if we increase the penality of trafficking, there is higher chance that the victims can be killed so they can avoid the prosecution. we just need to locate those victims and place em in secure and healthy enviroment until thier lives are restored and investigation is fully finished. then we need to keep an eye on the most vulnerable victims for further retaliation.