As unbelievable as it seems, the entire world must face up to a very disturbing reality: In this 21st century, we are witnessing a modern-day slave trade of epic proportions. What I am saying is not an over-dramatization. It is a fact. This slave trade is pervasive. It touches almost every nation on the planet in some way, either as a country of origin, transit or destination.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of desperate human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. The vast majority are young women and girls who fall prey to the sex trade – most forced into prostitution.
What we must keep foremost in mind is the overwhelming majority of these women do not experience prostitution as a job opportunity or a profession but a cold hard prison sentence. The bars and brothels where they work are their torture chambers. Their bedrooms are their prison cells.
All they cry out for is a real job—a chance at a real life. That is their only avenue of escape, and the well-heeled nations of the West must contribute meaningfully to the solution. They must find ways of helping these women, not only with skills training but with offers of employment that don’t require them to take off their clothes.
The trafficking of women and girls is truly one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. It is an affront to the dignity of women. It is an affront to the universality of human rights, and it shames us all. Breaking this repugnant form of sexual exploitation must be a moral, legal and political imperative for us all.