CINCINNATI -- Nearly 3,000 Ohio children are at risk for sex trafficking, and more than 1,000 children in the state are trafficked into the sex trade every year, according to the attorney general's 2010 year-end report on human trafficking.
One victim of sex trafficking, "Sarah," as she asked to be identified, sat down with News 5's Stephanie Stone to tell her story. Sarah admits her story is unbelievable and disturbing. She agreed to go on camera hoping to save just one more person from the horrors of human trafficking.
"People have to know that this stuff does go on. Horrible, horrible, horrible things happen to children," she said....
Not my Life, an independent documentary on child exploitation and abuse today premiered at New York’s Lincoln Centre. The film, which was filmed across five continents, looks at the devastating issues of child trafficking, sexual exploitation and child labour.
Not My Life features Dr. Nicholas Alipui, UNICEF Director of Programmes, and Dr. Susan Bissell, UNICEF’s Chief Child Protection, who provide insight into the key issues.
“It is important to bring global awareness to these issues. Trafficking of children is a grave violation of their rights, robbing them of their childhood, their well-being, and the opportunity to reach their full potential,” said Dr. Susan Bissell. “Documentaries such as Not my Life are important, because they spotlight abuses that are otherwise often underreported.”...
Americans tend to associate “modern slavery” with illiterate girls in India or Cambodia. Yet there I was the other day, interviewing a college graduate who says she spent three years terrorized by pimps in a brothel in Midtown Manhattan.
Those who think that commercial sex in this country is invariably voluntary — and especially men who pay for sex — should listen to her story. The men buying her services all mistakenly assumed that she was working of her own volition, she says.
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