Profiting from the Subjugation of Children & Other Women
As terrible as human trafficking is for each subjugated person throughout the world, Sharon Buchbinder says women and children are especially vulnerable.
"Forced labor, organ harvesting and the soul-destroying, commercial sex industry often feature men as vicitms; however, it is the commercial sex industry that accounts for approximately 75 to 80 percent of human trafficking, which predominately targets women and girls," says Buchbinder, an award-winning, multi-published novelist who recently published "Obsession," (www.sharonbuchbinder.com), which deals with international kidnapping.
"There are more than 27 million slaves worldwide, according to the United Nations, generating an estimated $32 billion in profits, most of which are earned on the backs of young women, yet more and more case findings are uncovering women as ringleaders and operators of trafficking syndicates," she says.
Buchbinder reviews some recent cases:
· A Saudi Arabian princess charged in Los Angeles: Meshael Alayban faces one felony count of human trafficking after being accused of holding a domestic servant against her will at her condominium in Irvine, Calif. Alayban is one of the wives of Saudi Prince Abdulrahman bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz al Saud. A female servant, originally from Kenya, escaped and flagged down a bus, after which she told her story to local police. The woman says she was promised weekends off and a good wage but was forced to work 16-hour days, seven days a week and was paid only $220 a month. Alayban faces a maximum sentence of 12 years if convicted. She is being held in the Orange County jail in lieu of $5 million bail.
· United Nations study shows females traffic more sex workers than men in developing countries: Using data from 155 countries, the UN's first international report attempting to calculate the scope, nature and patterns of human trafficking found a disproportionately high number of female perpetrators selling other women into slavery. The report uncovered an alarming trend: women who were once victims of the sex trade often develop into ringleaders of the illegal, underground sex industry. Researchers cite money, poverty and a skewed psychological perspective for possible reasons for this phenomenon.
· Woman recently sentenced to more than seven years in a federal prison for trafficking a 16-year-old in three different states: Jessica Loren Posey was sentenced earlier this year to serve time for transporting a juvenile girl to Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio for the purpose of prostitution. According to a U.S. attorney, Posey met the girl at a party and coerced her to engage in sex for money. Posey, 25, marketed the girl using uploaded pictures on various pornographic websites, and she arranged meetings at hotel rooms, driving the girl there.
"In America, we often think of slavery as a problem of the past; in reality, however, there are more human slaves in the world today than ever before in history, with roughly 27 million people are held as slaves worldwide," Buchbinder says. "Unfortunately, this is likely to be a persistent problem - a human trafficker can potentially earn 20 times the amount paid for a girl, which can be worth a quarter million dollars. Unlike drugs and guns, girls can be used over and over again."
About Sharon Buchbinder
Sharon Buchbinder is an award-winning author published in contemporary, erotic, paranormal and romantic-suspense genres. After working in health care delivery for years, Buchbinder became an executive, a health care researcher and an academic in higher education. Despite enjoying the good life with a good career, her supportive husband and an amazing son, the itch to write kept beckoning her. She credits much of her success to the kindness of family, friends, critique partners, Romance Writers of America and Maryland Romance Writers.
