There are more than 40 million victims of human trafficking around the world, according to statistics from the International Labour Organization. The group says 25 percent are children, and 75 percent are women and girls. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that enriches the perpetrators through the sexual slavery of their victims. Whether ensnared by force, coercion, or deception, these victims live in limbo, in fear, in pain.
People who fall prey to sex traffickers span all ages and genders. They include all racial and ethnic backgrounds and sexual orientations and identities. They tend to have one thing in common: a vulnerability that a trafficker can exploit.
Criminals often prey on vulnerable groups such as immigrants or people living in poverty. But “Jane Doe’s” story is proof that human trafficking occurs throughout all communities and is often hidden in plain sight.
Treasured Vessels and we have blacked out her image, but please listen to this survivor tell her story. Her words are a testament to their incredible resilience and point toward the urgency for action to prosecute perpetrators and support survivors along their journeys to restored dignity, health, and hope.
