We Shouldn't Have to Say
"Don't Buy Children for Sex"
But we live in a world where the buying and selling of people for sex is huge business.
In fact, human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing illicit trade in the world.
When it comes to sex trafficking, the younger a child is the more a trafficker makes.
Human Trafficking
What is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological. Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used. In the US, trafficking doesn't depend on someone being transported or moved from place to place. It often happens in the same community where a victim lives, goes to school, or works.
What is Sex Trafficking?
Sex trafficking is the coercion and exploitation of an individual to perform sexual acts for the profit of a trafficker. When it comes to children, it is a crime to exchange anything of value for any sexual activity, regardless of the use of force or coercion. Sex trafficking is the largest form of human trafficking within the United States, with sex trafficking victims accounting for almost 70% of the known cases according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
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Sex
Trafficking
Significant Increase in Trafficking
A Significant Increase
Due to the exponential increase in access to technology, online exploitation is skyrocketing. 92% of youth who went missing between 2020 and 2023 were speaking to unknown adults online before they disappeared. In the face of these changing dangers, only 51% of youth reported their parents having talked to them about the dangers of grooming and exploitation.
[1] Online Enticement: An Analysis of Missing Children and Youth 2020-2023
Facts About Child Sex Trafficking and Exploitation
Numbers only tell part of the story. Because this is a often misunderstood crime that depends on secrecy, the actual number of children being exploited is vastly underreported. Estimates from the International Labour Organization suggest that at least 3.3 million children are actively being exploited for sex worldwide.
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Child trafficking thrives on vulnerability. While all children are inherently vulnerable, some are more so than others: those experiencing homelessness or foster care, runaways, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC youth, young people with disabilities, and children who already face significant trauma or life stressors.
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Sex trafficking hides in plain sight. Children who are being exploited are often still attending school, living at home, and active in their communities.
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Most child sex trafficking victims are exploited by someone they know. Whether it's a family member, friend, romantic partner, or other person in the young person's life, the odds are it isn't a stranger.
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Buyers hide in plain sight too. They may live seemingly respectable, ordinary lives, with careers and families. They may hold positions of power and trust that they use to identify and exploit children.
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Demand drives trafficking. Addressing exploitation also means helping young people understand how demand is created, and how to resist becoming part of it.
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Protective factors can help prevent children from being exploited. Having trusted adults in their lives, understanding healthy relationships and consent, being aware of what exploitation and trafficking look like in real life, safe access to technology, having basic needs met, and good mental health help protect all young people.​
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