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Traffick

The Bay Area traffic is famous. I avoid it when possible. Who wouldn’t? The volume highlights the problem.

The global revenue from the trafficking of slaves for sex grosses at $8 billion USD per year and $32 billion for domestic, industrial and agricultural slavery. San Francisco is one of the world’s largest commercial centers in the international sex-slave trade. You could say, the city has a major traffick problem.

I love San Francisco. This week I was a tourist. I wandered the city’s beautiful steep streets; sipped coffee in cute coffee houses and gazed at iconic sights. We avoided the no-go zone our hotel manager marked up on our map. The part of town the freeway passes over. The part of town that trades in people.

Sometimes when a problem seems insurmountable we just re-route, avoid, take the subway or the freeway instead. But there is no free way for the girls in the underground system of modern slavery. Re-routing doesn’t make either the district or the issue disappear. Whilst Alcatraz is now a tourist attraction, other San Francisco attractions have become inescapable prisons. Is it time for a prison break?

Popular movies like ‘Taken’ shine a spotlight on the highly systemized sex slave industry. However, slaves are still principally trafficked across international borders, taken from one of 127 nations, bought by traders and sold throughout the world. Women are lured in by promises of good jobs in the West as nannies or waitresses. They are unobtrusive at border checkpoints as they are most-often still unaware that they are being trafficked. Once they reach their destination they change hands numerous times, they are hidden and then systematically drugged, raped and beaten into submission. Once ‘working’ they are forced to have sex with as many as 30 men a day. They are usually confined to the house or massage parlor and are only transported with guardians. Their families back home are threatened to subdue uncooperative behaviour and thwart escape attempts.

The international networks of human trafficking are well established and far-reaching. Cartel leaders remain hidden behind layer upon layer of traffickers, pimps, brothel managers, madams and gangs. Even in a rare instance when an individual establishment is investigated, the profiteers and their profits remain untouchable, whilst the girls are arrested and deported. Soon to be replaced.

Although San Francisco has a larger and more visible problem than most, sex trafficking takes place in the majority of western cities. Western Europe, North America and Australia are the top destinations for the approximately 800 000 slaves traded for sex every year. Whilst 10 years ago 85% of sex workers were native, now 85% come form overseas, most of whom are held captive. Yet the legal system and social services haven’t adapted to this shift. The approach, designed for voluntary prostitution, is highly inadequate to combat human trafficking.

British MP Andrew Dismore says of the UK situation:

Back in San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is beginning the process of greater inter-department cooperation. What is currently going unchallenged due to departmental buck-shifting and a history of appeasement, is now getting increasing attention. Yet still, the response is dramatically out of proportion to the scale and gravity of the issue.

It is right that we wage war on the money-makers and power brokers of the unseen abuse. Yet we so often forget that we get what we pay for. Sex trafficking makes $8 billion a year because we, in the West, pay $8 billion a year for it. 

The home of the sexual revolution, San Francisco’s ‘free love’ demands liberty and sexual freedom. Yet, it is far from free, neither for punter or prostitute. So is prostitution really a freedom? I guess it depends what side of the bed you are on. 

The pursuit of freedom that San Francisco upholds is not universal amongst her inhabitants. If one of us is enslaved then none of us are free. We are all held captive to their fate. Sexual freedom cannot cost other people their freedom. Why then are the slaves criminalized whilst the men who pay money to abuse them are not? Every person that uses a brothel directly pays for and perpetuates slavery and violent crime. If they stopped, sex trafficking would be out of business in a day.

The UN and individual nations are waking up to the rapidly growing trade in people. Yet, it's recognized that measures must be stepped up and creatively thought out both for the origin and destination nations of the slaves, as well as for international trade routes. All levels need to be targeted. Education, identification, rehabilitation and prosecution will need to collaborate for a slave free future.

Every one of us has the ability and the responsibility to close down this trade. Against the hugest of powers and overwhelming odds, William Wilberforce fought and won for the abolition of slavery in 1833. Today’s abolitionists need to do the same. So, as I sip my coffee, gaze at the bay and hike the vertical streets of San Francisco, I have to know that I too am working towards a free future. There is hope. So keep hoping St Francis, you’ll be a free man yet.

Sarah Bainbridge is a vital part of the Living Generously team. She liaises with Charities, writes articles and develops the project! Sarah has spent time in India working with communities impacted by the Tsunami  and is passionate about social justice. Currently living in California, Sarah loves life, lakes and coffee...not necessarily in that order!

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