Sound of Freedom: Global Obstacles to Fight Sex Trafficking of Children
by Stefano Gennarini JD, C-Fam:
The greatest obstacle to protecting women and children from sex-traffickers may be the governments that protect pornography and prostitution.
The unexpected blockbuster movie “Sound of Freedom” has generated over $100 million at the U.S. box office putting a spotlight on sex trafficking of children. But what is the international community doing to fight sex trafficking and what are some of the obstacles to ending child sex trafficking?
The UN General Assembly has not been idle when it comes to debating and adopting treaties and resolutions against trafficking.
There are two binding international treaties against sex-trafficking, the “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons” and the “Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography,” ratified by nearly every country on earth.
The General Assembly commissioned the UN system to fight trafficking in a “Global Plan of Action” against trafficking beginning in 2010, and Western countries donate millions in aid bilaterally. The U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID, alone has provided over $370 million to fight human trafficking in nearly 90 countries since 2000. Dozens of events are held at UN headquarters every year to address trafficking, sometimes referred to as “modern slavery.”
Despite this whirlwind of international attention, it is widely acknowledged that sex-trafficking continues to grow in frequency and brutality, especially toward children.
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