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home/the-crisis

Every day victims of sexual
exploitation are beaten,
raped and trapped in a life
they never asked for.


Learn about them D
D
13 yrs old is the average age of a girl entering the sex trade in North America.1

Human trafficking for sexual exploitation generates a profit of nearly $100 billion USD annually.2
Human trafficking is still one of the fastest growing business of organized crime.3
At any given time in 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people were trapped in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage.4

Nearly 5 million people were trapped in forced sexual exploitation—the vast majority women and children.4
Global court case results show that deception is usually used to recruit and later violence to maintain control.5
Who is most vulnerable to trafficking?5
  • Women and children
  • Minority, indigenous and marginalized populations
  • Immigrants—especially undocumented—and refugees
  • Rape, sexual assault and domestic violence victims
  • Homeless and run-away individuals
  • Victims of poverty and foster care abuse
  • Refugees from environmental and natural disasters
  • Those in politically unstable countries
  • The disabled
45% of trafficking victims in Canada
were aged
18 to 246
28% were under
the age of 186

Human trafficking and
sexual exploitation is
slavery, but her slavery
is not a choice.

The reality of sex slavery
Abuse

The majority of the women we serve have experienced multiple forms of abuse from early childhood. Childhood sexual abuse is a grooming process for trafficking and creates incredible shame and fear within the child. Worth and confidence are stripped away, often by those the child knows and trusts. Traffickers prey on these vulnerabilities and continue to use abuse as a form of controlling and “recruiting” the child.

Trauma

The degradation of her worth and value continues within the sex trade. Coerced and manipulated, she is raped day after day, night after night. This is a grueling, painful life-destroying process that only profits the trafficker. The constant trauma is experienced within her on every level: emotional, physical, spiritual and mental.

Addiction

Many traffickers use drugs to control the girls and help create a dependency to maintain the girls within their possession. Many women want to escape the horrors of their reality so drugs help numb the pain and trauma they experience daily. Once addicted the trauma, stigma and judgement she feels and faces from others is only compounded, making escape even harder.

Invisible chains

Many people don’t understand the amount of manipulation and coercion that has happened in her life since childhood. This process has left her desiring love and belonging, which the trafficker capitalizes on by becoming a romantic partner at first. He manipulates her through this relationship, until suggesting there is a debt she now owes him. Often, she doesn’t leave or even realize she is being exploited because of her intimate connection to this partner/trafficker! Even if she is rescued, there is often a strong pull, because of these intimate relationships, back to the life she just escaped.

Women & girls escaping human trafficking tell their stories
"I was a system kid, bounced around foster homes for most of my life. I would have rather been with my mom, but she kept dating pedophiles that wanted to get at me. I met Ryan at age 14. He was so smooth and I so desperate for love, I believed all his lies. After I moved in, he beat me badly and made me ‘turn tricks.’ I had to use drugs to cope with what I had to do every single night—man after man on top of me, hurting me, strangling me, stealing every good thing inside me."

—Mia*
"My dad was violent when I was a child and liked to rape me. As soon as I could leave home, I did. I applied for a job as a model, but it was a scam. They beat me and raped me till I surrendered. My life became a blur of men and drugs to ease the pain."

—Nadia*

Is there healing
& hope?

“I had never known a safe or stable home before, so coming here was a totally new experience. I love it here at the SA home.”

—Sylvie*
“This place has helped restore my self worth, my confidence, relationships, my emotions . I don’t think I would be sober or the parent I am today without this place.”

—Pam*
“This Program has helped me find myself again and with that comes confidence. I’ve realized that my past does not define me or put limits on what I can achieve.”

—Alexi*
*We protect the anonymity of the women and children we serve. Names and identities have been changed.
Can trafficked women
know freedom? Is there
new life and new dreams?

Women are finding freedom. The SA Foundation has dozens of safe houses in many countries around the world.

Women and girls escaping human trafficking and sexual exploitation are finding healing and transformation with your help and active support. Be inspired. Be inspired.

Sources

1/ “Human Trafficking Within and Into The United States: A Review of the Literature.” Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Accessed July 31, 2019, https://aspe.hhs.gov/report/human-trafficking-and-within-united-states-review-literature#Trafficking

2/ ILO: https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_243201/lang--en/index.htm

3/ ILO: http://ilo.ch/global/topics/forced-labour/news/WCMS_143231/lang--en/index.htm
4/ ILO; https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htmILO Report 2017 “ Source: Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage, Geneva, September 2017

5/ United nations office on drugs and crime: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/tip/2021/GLOTiP_2020_Global_overview.pdf

6/ Canadian Government https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/campaigns/human-trafficking.html

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