ARLINGTON, Va., December 12, 2011 – If a robber or any other kind of criminal breaks into someone’s home, this is considered a serious crime, commonly known as “home invasion.” If someone invades another person’s body, isn’t this an even more serious crime? Those who exploit victims of human trafficking for sexual pleasure are invaders and criminals, no matter how hard they try to rationalize their crimes.
These men might want to excuse themselves, saying, “Hey, wait a minute! I paid money for this! Besides, the girl I spent time with could have refused to take part in the act. As a matter of fact, if she didn’t like this line of work, she could easily have run away from the people she is working for.”
How easy is it for a young girl, often subjected to both physical and psychological violence, to run away? Many or most trafficking victims are initiated into sex work by being beaten or raped, or both. They live in constant fear of their masters, fear that if they try to run away, they will be recaptured and beaten even more terribly. In addition, young women who are brought into the U.S. from foreign lands are often told that if they try to run away, they will be arrested and cruelly treated by the police, due to their lack of immigration documents. These young girls exist, virtually imprisoned by fear.
Sexual invader-vampires, the “Johns,” cannot excuse their exploitation of a young girl simply because the girl’s spirit, psyche and self-respect have been broken by violence.
With this in mind, I would like to draw your attention to California Against Slavery (CAS) a promising new group that is working to put an end to sexual slavery in the state. In cooperation with another California group of activists, the Safer California Foundation, CAS is promoting the Californians Against Sexual Slavery (CASE) Act, a ballot initiative for November, 2012 to make existing state laws against human trafficking far more effective.
Current state laws in California provide penalties of a mere 3 to 8 years for trafficking human beings. It has been observed that this makes trafficking, from a criminal’s point of view, less risky and more profitable than drug dealing! The purpose of the CASE initiative, which according to CAS will have extremely good chances of passing, is “to make human trafficking the riskiest criminal business in California.”
The CAS website, http://californiaagainstslavery.org/ has a very simple and compelling statement of beliefs:
“Every person has an inherent dignity which our society and laws must uphold and protect.
Human trafficking is a crime against human dignity and a deprivation of basic human and civil rights.
Allowing any form of slavery to exist severely impacts our society and communities. It is a problem that concerns us all.”
If you visit the website, please make sure to watch the short video clip about human trafficking, entitled, “Learn What and Why.” It describes the nature and severity of the crime, and features the mother whose daughter was kidnapped and turned into a prostitute, who declares, “You can’t put a price on the innocence of a child.” It also quotes Brian Marvel, president of the San Diego Police Officers Association, who in reference to the proposed 2012 ballot initiative promises, “This initiative puts the first nail in the coffin of human trafficking for our state, and for the rest of the nation.”
Please support the work of groups such as CAS. Let’s help abolish slavery in America for a second and, God willing, a final time.
Read more of Clark Eberly's Stories of Faith in the Communities at the Washington Times.
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