“Beaten, Manipulated and Sold All Day Everyday”
|
The issue of child sex trafficking is becoming more pointed as new research comes out about the vastness of the problem. A heart-wrenching interview with a survivor of child trafficking came out during testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee last week:
When I was 12 years old, a guy I thought was just a “dope [cool] boy” kept following me in his car when I walked to school…eventually I got in the car with him. For a while we were girlfriend and boyfriend; we would go everywhere together. It didn’t take long before I experienced the real treatment— being beaten, stomped on, manipulated and sold all day every day. Shared Hope International, a non-profit committed to globally preventing and eradicating sex trafficking and slavery, testified to the Committee about the problem of child trafficking in the U.S.
Linda Smith, Founder and President, represented the organization and focused on the current issues in domestic child trafficking response.