Exploitation Of Women And Children Essay

In the last few decades, exploitation of women and children has reached an ultimate high as the demand for trafficking and commercial sex has become significant. To date, human trafficking continues to serve as a pressing issue throughout the world. Trafficking typically flows from underdeveloped regions, including Nepal and Thailand, to more affluent regions, like the United States. Contributing some 250,000 cases of a year, Asian countries lead the sex trafficking enterprise, compared to 175,000 cases from Central Europe and 100,000 cases from the Soviet Union (Crawford). Girls and young women are often trafficked into foreign countries because it is more difficult for victims to escape enslavement in unfamiliar territory more so than in their native lands. As women and children remain vulnerable to exploitation and coercion, various “structural factors” significantly influence individuals’ ability to deceive and entrap victims of human trafficking. These factors include globalization, poverty, gender discrimination, racism, and war (Newman). Following the Cold War, a significant rise in trafficking occurred as regional conflicts increased. As families became impoverished and government protection diminished, women and children became trafficking victims between the Balkans and Vietnam. Sex trafficking is most common in regions where “women and girls are denied property rights, access to education, economic rights, and participation in the political process” (Shelley).…