A child sex slave can be bought online faster than ordering a pizza and getting it delivered.
That's the shocking reality shown in a documentary called "Stopping Traffic."
Ahead of global human trafficking awareness month this January (human trafficking awareness day = 11th January) it's bringing attention to forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation across the world.
Frances Read reports from Los Angeles.
IN: "It's one of…
OUT: in Los Angeles."
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GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0105HumanTrafficking-fr-gen.mp3
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VO: It's one of the largest criminal industries in the world - second only to drugs. The UN says Human trafficking - whether forced labour or forced sex work - is a 150 billion dollar industry. According to its estimates - there are some 27 million slaves in the world today - half of those them children. It was those statistics that made Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, a Jain monk and Iraq war veteran, want to take action.
SIDDHALI "It's hard to bring this topic to the dinner table. No one wants to talk about human slaves. But that's the reality and unless we talk about it no-one's going to be inspired to do something about it so what's important about this movement is we break this taboo, we shine light on it and when you shine light on it the monster starts to disappear."
VO: Never before had she made a film. But she felt it was needed. So she travelled around the world with a camera - to several different countries.
SIDDHALI "We wanted to make a positive difference, there's a lot of documentaries, that they raise awareness about a certain issue but at the end you feel helpless and you feel hopeless. That was a true test - no matter what you follow your vision to make your vision spread."
VO: But she was unprepared for what she'd find. Human trafficking in countries at all stages of development.
SIDDHALI: "They chop off the kids arms, they will make them blind by taking out their eyes - they will do whatever it takes to make money. People end up in that situation because of poverty, abuse, drugs, different levels of vulnerability. And so even if someone wants to get out because of their addiction to drugs they can't or let's say in a third world country the money is providing food for their family so they feel guilty of giving up that life so they're stuck."
VO: It's people like Kay Buck from the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking who are trying to put an end to it.
KAY BUCK: "It is definitely a big problem, Los Angeles, in particular, where we're located, it's considered a magnet where traffickers bring victims. But we also serve a lot of immigrant victims who think they're coming here for a great opportunity, a good job and a way to support their families and they're duped by the traffickers and they're enslaved for years and years right here in Los Angeles."
VO: The U.N. passed a global plan of action in 2010, and this year they're recommitting to that - with governments around the world creating new laws. But the spotlight on human trafficking awareness this month shows there's still a very long way to go. I'm Frances Read in Los Angeles.
That's the shocking reality shown in a documentary called "Stopping Traffic."
Ahead of global human trafficking awareness month this January (human trafficking awareness day = 11th January) it's bringing attention to forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation across the world.
Frances Read reports from Los Angeles.
IN: "It's one of…
OUT: in Los Angeles."
DUR: 2,40"
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/0105HumanTrafficking-fr-gen.mp3
PKG:
VO: It's one of the largest criminal industries in the world - second only to drugs. The UN says Human trafficking - whether forced labour or forced sex work - is a 150 billion dollar industry. According to its estimates - there are some 27 million slaves in the world today - half of those them children. It was those statistics that made Sadhvi Siddhali Shree, a Jain monk and Iraq war veteran, want to take action.
SIDDHALI "It's hard to bring this topic to the dinner table. No one wants to talk about human slaves. But that's the reality and unless we talk about it no-one's going to be inspired to do something about it so what's important about this movement is we break this taboo, we shine light on it and when you shine light on it the monster starts to disappear."
VO: Never before had she made a film. But she felt it was needed. So she travelled around the world with a camera - to several different countries.
SIDDHALI "We wanted to make a positive difference, there's a lot of documentaries, that they raise awareness about a certain issue but at the end you feel helpless and you feel hopeless. That was a true test - no matter what you follow your vision to make your vision spread."
VO: But she was unprepared for what she'd find. Human trafficking in countries at all stages of development.
SIDDHALI: "They chop off the kids arms, they will make them blind by taking out their eyes - they will do whatever it takes to make money. People end up in that situation because of poverty, abuse, drugs, different levels of vulnerability. And so even if someone wants to get out because of their addiction to drugs they can't or let's say in a third world country the money is providing food for their family so they feel guilty of giving up that life so they're stuck."
VO: It's people like Kay Buck from the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking who are trying to put an end to it.
KAY BUCK: "It is definitely a big problem, Los Angeles, in particular, where we're located, it's considered a magnet where traffickers bring victims. But we also serve a lot of immigrant victims who think they're coming here for a great opportunity, a good job and a way to support their families and they're duped by the traffickers and they're enslaved for years and years right here in Los Angeles."
VO: The U.N. passed a global plan of action in 2010, and this year they're recommitting to that - with governments around the world creating new laws. But the spotlight on human trafficking awareness this month shows there's still a very long way to go. I'm Frances Read in Los Angeles.