The largest global crime

That's what experts project Human Trafficking to become in the year 2011!

-Human Trafficking is now the Second largest Global Crime next to Drugs!

-Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar industry

-25% of the trafficking is from Europe

-Only 1 - 2 percent of those trafficked are rescued.

-1.2 Million are forced into slavery EACH YEAR!

-Orphans are the biggest targets of sex trafficking.

The rapid growth of this industry is frightening! It's not just something happening in a different country either.

Last week, I participated in a Human Trafficking Webinar hosted by Christian Alliance for Orphans and led by Tom Davis, founder of Hopechest. This is where I heard the above statistics. This is when it was confirmed to me the one main thing that fuels this industry -

PORNOGRAPHY!! 

Pornography creates an appetite for trafficking.

Those who support the pornography industry, such as strip clubs, websites with porn and play boy magazines, are feeding to the Human Trafficking industry!

Searching on the internet and looking at a play boy magazine in your own private home, may seem like to some very innocent and causing no harm to anyone else.

But the opposite it true!! The more demand there is for pornography, the more sex crazy our culture becomes and the more sex crazy our culture becomes, the more demand there is for pornography, the more we feed into the human trafficking industry.

Pornography is the main business that keeps human trafficking in business!

Furthermore, a lot of pornography features women and children who have been trafficked!

We have a "gentleman's club" in our small community. Each weekend, the parking lot is FULL of cars. During deer hunting season and holidays, the parking lot is overflowing!

My daughter Lauren has driven by there on a bus with teammates or classmates who have pointed at the local strip club and said, "My dad goes there." They offer this information to others like they are sharing which golf club their father's golf at.

I wonder how many clients would still be frequenting the club if they knew that some of those girls were victims of human trafficking.

I walked into a local book store with my 7 year old daughter the other day and up on the back wall in plain sight was a play boy calendar. It was very large and very easy to see upon entering the store. My daughter and I were having some special time together and I was going to let her pick out a book. But we had to leave the store after one foot in the door.

I wonder if the store owner would sell pornography if she knew that some of the girls featured in the magazines were trafficked.

So the question is, what can we do? What actions can we take to change the mind sets of a sex crazy culture.

We can begin by educating, which is the purpose of my blog post today. Educate the public about the affects of pornography and it's direct link to human trafficking.

I was going to list sites here showing the research that has been done to prove that there is a link. But just google the topic and you will find numerous sites.

I have so much more to say on this topic in more blog posts to come.