Please watch the video above before reading below.Last week, I just finished reading Trafficked by Sophie Hayes, about her experience of being tricked by a man she believed to love her, and trafficked into prostitution in Italy. What was so shocking to me about her story, was that this man was not a foreigner whom she had met on an internet chat room, nor had this had been a whirlwind romance - or any of the other clichéd circumstances that would sometimes spring to mind.
On the contrary, she had met this man in a bar on a night out in the UK, and had developed a close friendship with him over a few years before agreeing to visit him for a short holiday in Italy.
Having read her story, and knowing the horrors this girl experienced, watching the video above reminded me that even Amsterdam's Red Light district, which while known to be a little seedy, is a popular destination with Brits for entertainment. Who can know for sure, what any of the girls and women working there have been through.Trafficking is...to be deceived or taken against your will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, child brides, circuses, sacrificial worship, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude.Trafficking is...where family members and friends deceive parents to release their children or sell them for as little as $20 each, selling them on to local gangmasters or serious organised international trafficking rings.
Trafficking is...
growing. 2–4 MILLION men, women and children are trafficked across borders and within their own country every year. More than one person is trafficked across borders EVERY MINUTE, which is equivalent to ten jumbo jets every day. a trade that earns twice as much worldwide revenue as Coca Cola.Trafficking is...
where victims usually suffer repeated physical abuse, fear, torture and threats to families to break their spirits and turn them into saleable commodities. a person can be sold and trafficked many times.If you'd like to know more, or get involved with the charity yourself. Click here. Have you heard of Stop the Traffik before? Did you find their video campaign effective, were you shocked by the ending?