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Child Trafficking Research Paper

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There are approximately twenty to thirty million slaves in the world today. It may not seem like it, because in America, trafficking is less of an issue than anywhere else. The average age of entry into slavery in America is fourteen to sixteen years old. Child trafficking victims, whether for labor, exploitation, or organ trafficking, come from all backgrounds, include both boys and girls. They span a wide age range from one to eighteen years old. Sex trafficking victims up to roughly twenty-five years old most often started as young as fourteen. Children are trafficked out of or into the United States from all regions of the world and represent a variety of different races, ethnic groups and religions. They may be brought to the U.S. legally …show more content…

Some children are even sold to traffickers by their families, who may or may not have an understanding of what will happen to the child. U.S. born children are also trafficked within the U.S., coming from any racial group, social or economic background, and come from or trafficked within both city and rural areas. In 2014, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children estimated that one in six endangered runaways reported to them were likely sex trafficking victims. Globally, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are four million people trapped in forced sexual exploitation globally. In the U.S., human trafficking tends to occur around international travel-hubs with large immigrant rates, notably California and Texas. The U.S. Justice Department estimates that fourteen thousand-five hundred people are trafficked into the country every year. Those being trafficked include young children, teenagers, men and women and can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals. According to the Department of State's statistics from 2000, there are approximately two hundred-forty four thousand American children and youth that are at risk for sex trafficking each year. Of these children and youth, thirty-eight thousand were originally …show more content…

She was able to escape at the age of twenty-three. Trokosi comes from an Ewe word meaning "slave of the gods," and is understood as a religious and cultural practice in which young women are sent into lifelong servitude to serve for the alleged crimes of their relatives. In 1997, it was estimated that approximately five thousand young girls and women were being kept in 345 shrines in the southeastern part of Ghana. Through Dogbadzi's escape and her efforts to demolish the system, the Trokosi practice was banned in Ghana, however, law enforcement against Trokosi is still muted. Dogbadzi speaks out against Trokosi, traveling the country, meeting with slaves and trying to win their freedom, and increasingly, she is not alone in her courageous

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