Sunday, 5 September 2010 12:50 by
O.A.T.H.
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One phone call from one trucker... 9 lives saved... 31 offenders convicted... 13 state trafficking ring shut down... all from one call. One person, One call.
One truck driver who noticed two young girls working at a truck stop made the 911 call to police. The 14 and 15 year old Ohio girls were in fact kidnap victims of human trafficking. These two girls were saved and returned to their families... then police found 7 other minor children being prostituted by the traffickers and in all 31 offenders were convicted in the 13 state prostitution ring. One person can make a difference!
Truckers Against Trafficking was started right here in Tulsa Oklahoma by one of our partner organizations: Chapter 61 Ministries. Please watch their video about the growing problem below...
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Prostitution. Pornography. Survival sex. Commercial sexual exploitation is more than just young people being sexually abused by adults. Perpetrators victimize young people by paying, or promising to pay, money, goods or services to a youth-or a pimp-in exchange for sexual acts or entertainment.
The impact of commercial sexual exploitation on young victims is often devastating. Instead of attending school, they face violence, disease and jail. Before they are even old enough to vote, they lose their dignity and their freedom. They suffer emotional trauma that may never go away.
Helping young people escape from exploitation should be a top priority of communities and youth workers everywhere.
What are the real numbers?... How can you identify them?... Read more
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Wednesday, 28 October 2009 18:44 by
O.A.T.H.Estimates range form 450,000 to 2 million runaways each year in the US! Although half return, many times only to runaway again, studies indicate that an estimated 300,000 of these kids each year are coerced into trading their young bodies for a place to stay, food or drugs. These children are often running away from difficult home situations, abuse or neglect... only to discover that life on the streets is much more abusive, much more demanding, much more demeaning... their search for love and safety is used against them by predators that exploit there sexuality in the commercial sex industry.
To survive, these teenagers convince themselves that they are not victims; they see themselves as surviving a very difficult life. Finding them, working with them, rescuing them from this lifestyle is not easy... and sadly, only a few people around the country are even trying. However, some are reaching them... some are getting through and helping these kids turn their lives around.
Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/us/27runaways.html?hp5535ded1-e1d1-42e1-bef3-b53df6768adc|0|.0
At truck stops all across the nation young girls, as young as 11 and 12 are working what is known as the "Party Row"... the back row of a truck stop. The two busiest hyways in the country, I-35 and I-40, cross at Oklahoma City, bringing with them lots of truckers and lots of young girls being prostituted to men 3 and 4 times their age. Police patrol the lots several nights a week, sometimes sitting in front of party row to discourage illegal activity. However, the only way for an arrest to be made or a girl rescued is if the officer actually sees the sex act or money changing hands.
Many ask why a girl would keep doing that... why wouldn't she just get away from her trafficker? But it is not that easy... threats and phychological conditioning by her pimp keep her under his control. See article for more information and read stories of girls from Oklahoma caught up in this abusive lifestyle.
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Saturday, 18 April 2009 02:00 by
O.A.T.H.
A child is reported missing every 40 seconds in America. That is 2000 per day or 800,000 per year... and an estimated 500,000 are not reported. In 1999, a report by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children revealed that 1,682,900 youth were runaways or throwaways. A new report by the Department of Justice shows evidence that 300,000 of these children are at risk each year of commercial sex trafficking. This is not a minor issue in our society... it not just the poor or minorities, it is not just troubled kids... we have an epidemic of child abuse that must stop.
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