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Children Reading the Holy Bible

We Shouldn't Have to Say
"Don't Buy Children for Sex" 

But we live in a world where the buying and selling of people for sex is huge business.

In fact, human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing illicit trade in the world.

When it comes to sex trafficking, the younger a child is the more a trafficker makes.

Human Trafficking

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is a crime that involves compelling or coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psychological.  Exploitation of a minor for commercial sex is human trafficking, regardless of whether any form of force, fraud, or coercion was used.

What is Sex Trafficking?

Sex Trafficking is the coercion and exploitation of an individual to perform sexual acts for the profit of a trafficker. Sex trafficking is the largest form of human trafficking within the United States, with sex trafficking victims accounting for almost 70% of the known cases according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

 

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Sex  
Trafficking

Significant Increase in Trafficking

A Significant Increase

Due to the exponential increase in access to technology, online exploitation is skyrocketing. 92% of youth who went missing between 2020 and 2023 were speaking to unknown adults online before they disappeared. In the face of these changing dangers, only 51% of youth reported their parents having talked to them about the dangers of grooming and exploitation.

 

[1] Online Enticement: An Analysis of Missing Children and Youth 2020-2023

[2] MCI R.E.A.L. Friends Don't Deck_EXTERN AL_62

Some Troubling Statistics

  • An estimated 500-700 youth are trafficked in Washington each year 

  • 92% of sex trafficking victims in North America are female

  • While only 6% of known trafficking victims are male, this number is vastly underreported

  • 44% of CSEC victims in King County identify as Black, while only 7% of King County’s population identifies as Black

  • 98% of child sex traffickers identify as male

  • The average age of first sexual exploitation in trafficked youth is 14

  • Only 7 states currently mandate some form of prevention/awareness education for either educators or students

  • 1 in 3 minors reports having experienced an online sexual interaction

 

*https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/

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