Sex Trade in India – The Enslavement of Children for a Buck

How greed, corruption, poverty, ignorance, and the caste system combine to enslave children into the sex industry in India.

Sheri and Curtis attended an informational talk at the Environmental Center by Shannon Keith who founded the International Princess Project, Shannon was moved by her experiences during a trip to India. The following from her website:

In February of 2005, Shannon Keith made a trip to India that changed her life. While there, she visited a red light district with an organization whose mission is to rescue prostitutes. As Shannon’s group distributed fruit, medicines, and small grooming items, she was struck by the number of women and children living in crude shacks that provide both shelter and a place for business. She could not forget the individual faces, “some worn by years of abuse, others that appear young until you look into their eyes and are almost paralyzed by the empty pools that stare back at you.” The squalor and sense of hopelessness were overwhelming to Shannon.

The women and children who are a part of the sex trade in India—Mumbai (Bombay) alone has the largest concentrated red light district in the world—are caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and disease. The chance for escape from the sex trade is slim. Unlike the U.S. where government programs exist to help those who are destitute and want to make a change for the better in their lives, India has no financial aid for women who want to get out of the profession. And the stigma attached to children of prostitutes bars them from entering public school, virtually forcing them into the same life that their mothers endure.

What Shannon discovered was that everyday children are: trafficked, bought, sold, or kidnapped and forced into the sex trade. Human traffickers cajole, lie, trick, and bargain with families in cities and villages, playing on the desperation of their poverty, the terrible burden of the marriage dowry system, and the inescapably of the caste system. Children are promised a good life, a good husband, a good job, and purchased for as little a $50. Unfortunately once the child arrives at the brothel they are confined and gang raped until their spirit is broken. Then they are pimped out and forced to have sex up to 20 times each day. The police are corrupt and will do nothing to stop this crime (the police make money on this).

All this is a bit gut wrenching, and Shannon must be a very strong person. The International Princess Project provides funding to organizations who rescue children from these unspeakable situations and reintroduces them to the world. She sells PJ’s to raise money.

RISE UP INDIA salutes Shannon, Thank you so much for RISING UP!

Education is a step on the path for the prevention of child sex trafficking. As part of the solution RISE UP INDIA provides free education to 250 children. These children will be equipped with some simple tools to prepare them for the future. They have an increased world view and their lives have more value making less susceptible to trafficking. The nine orphan boys supported by RISE UP INDIA defiantly have a better chance at a positive future than if they were out on the street.

Note to Reader: More people are enslaved now than at any time in history. This horrible crime occurs everyday 24/7 – 365. This is not some reality TV show. Get down and kiss the ground and thank the stars that you, my friend, are not in the above situation. There are truly evil people in the world and you, as a civilized western person with access to resources, are truly obligated to RISE UP NOW and stop them. What are you waiting for?