Trafficking

Sex Isn’t a Spectator Sport

Christianity Today July 2006

Seeking to better her life, Irina, 18, answers a newspaper advertisement for a training course in Berlin. Using a falsified passport, she travels from her native Ukraine to Germany. There she is told the school is closed and sent to Belgium for a “job.” Upon arrival, Irina learns she owes those in charge $10,000 and must repay the debt by prostitution. Irina’s handlers take her documents, beat and rape her, and make her a prostitute. Eventually they turn her over to another pimp in Brussels’ red-light district. Watching for a chance at freedom, Irina escapes one day—only to be jailed by the police because she has no documentation.

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The new abolitionism

Rich Lowry writes about human trafficking.

Ambassador John Miller is head of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. But he has a simpler word for what he is combating: “slavery.” Trafficking, or “modern-day slavery,” as Miller calls it, is fast becoming one of the early 21st century’s foremost human-rights issues.