New York: A new research has discovered that 70 per cent of child trafficking victims were at some point, sold online.
The shocking study, by Thorn, an agency that studies technology’s role in sex trafficking, claims websites like US-based Craigslist, are often used by pimps who are pushing children into the world’s sex trade network. “People are posted and sold online multiple times a day,” Asia, a survivor of sex trafficking, was quoted as saying by Thorn in a report from the Huffington Post.
“As far as the ad that was posted up (for me)… just (like) you can go find a car, there was a picture, and a description, and a price.”
Pimps extensively use listings websites to create profiles of the children they are selling and often buyers are able to browse through the “catalogue” without any threat from the law.
The US Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also adds that at least 105,000 children in the country are being sexually exploited, and the expanding underground trafficking industry is continuing unabated. The Thorn report also says that the FBI considers sex trafficking the fastest-growing organised crime, and that the Web, allowing anonymity of both buyers and sellers, is making trade easier.
The Thorn report has further detailed how difficult it has become for authorities to track down sexual predators online as there are now 22 million child porn websites across the globe and 10 million in the US. The report also considers the increased use of mobile devices as part of the bigger problem.
