Writes Asclepius, LUDCI.eu Editorial team
“This is an urgent humanitarian issue. My Administration is committed to leveraging every resource we have to confront
this threat, to support the victims and survivors, and to hold traffickers accountable for their heinous crimes.” – President Donald J. Trump said at the 2018 meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Human trafficking is exactly slavery with a modern-day twist. No one should have to be a victim of trafficking. It is not only a grave crime and abuse of human rights. It also poses a threat to national and economic security and undermines the rule of law. Trafficking in persons is a global plague with an estimate of 26.9 million victims. The perpetrators target adults and children and exploit them in unimaginable ways for their own profit. Paedophilia is a major reason for the trafficking of children. Many trafficked children are made to work in sex houses where paedophiles pay to satisfy their dark and obscene pleasures.
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 called for the creation of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to coordinate anti-trafficking efforts among various U.S. Federal government agencies. Between the year 2000 and now, the United States has made significant progress in the fight against human trafficking.
From 2001 to 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted 360 defendants and gained 238 convictions. In 2009 fiscal year alone, the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit charged 114 individuals and obtained 47 convictions. This was the highest number of prosecutions and defendants charge within a single year at the time. Between January 2008 and 2010, the number of cases investigated by the FBI rose to 2, 515 giving clear indication of the growth of the crime in the United States.
In 2010, President Obama made a Presidential Proclamation marking the month of January as “National Slavery and Human Trafficking Awareness Month”. By so doing, Obama called for all Americans to join in the fight against human trafficking by first enlightening themselves and then exposing criminals.
Since then, there have been re-authorisations of the TVPA, which hindered traffickers and protected victims. In 2013 under Obama’s administration, the Child Protection Compact program was established following a re-authorisation. The program was to gender partnerships with other countries to provide technical and financial assistance targeted at ending the exploitation of children. It also established relationships between state and local law enforcement agencies that made it easier to charge and prosecute child traffickers. During his tenure, over 6, 000 cases were tried and 4, 000 convictions made. Over 2, 000 victims were rescued during the investigations.
Trump’s Administration has taken enormous strides in ending human trafficking. In 2018, the PITF’s agency – Department of Justice (DOJ), convicted and shut down the management of Backpage.com. The website had been the “Internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements that resulted in sex trafficking of minors and adults”.
The same year, the Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) Initiative was formed. Their investigations led to a 75% increase in charged defendants and over 200% increase in convictions during the same period. Health and Human Service (HHS) anti-trafficking grantees provided “comprehensive case management assistance to 2, 652 foreign national victims and eligible family members and to 1, 631 U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident victims of trafficking between October 2017 and March 2019”. HHS also approved funding for the National Human Trafficking Hotline. The hotline has received 178, 911 calls, texts, chats, online tips, and emails. HHS has carried out 1, 926 training outreaches and has trained 228,727 people in the identification of trafficking activities and victims between 2017 and 2019.
In January 2020, Trump issued an executive order on Combating Human Trafficking and Online Child Exploitation in the United States. This order strengthens the efforts of the U.S. against human trafficking and child exploitation. The Department of State (DOS) Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Office launched one Child Protection Compact Partnership in the 2018 fiscal year. Department of Defence (DOD) collaborated with foreign partner militaries in more than 24 countries to provide training on human trafficking, reaching an estimated 4, 811 foreign military members.
France recently passed a law that “toughen the punishment regarding sex violence acts”. While several other countries continue to strengthen their resolve against child trafficking and exploitation, activities in the Netherlands are not encouraging.
Prostitution was legalised in 2000 in the Netherlands. In the years that followed “escort” services operated without any regulation and became the destination of many trafficked children. Some steps were taken to address this development back in 2011, but recent activities show that the government of the Netherlands need to assume a stronger position on the issue of paedophilia and child trafficking.
A political party formed by self-described paedophiles attempted, in at least two sets of national elections, to lower the age of sexual consent from sixteen to twelve and to legalise child pornography. More recently, The Party for Neighbourly Love, Freedom, and Diversity or The Charity, Freedom and Diversity Party, was dissolved. This party was also formed by paedophiles that advocated for child-pornography as well. In February this year, a Dutch broadcaster actually hosted a paedophile who discussed why paedophilia should be accepted. He also expressed his intention to form a political party to that effect.
Conclusion:
The mere fact that paedophiles have a public voice is terrible enough. Stringent rules and guidelines from a President’s standpoint are crucial. Both the Trump and Obama administrations have shown a commitment to eradicate the growth and proliferation of paedophiles, which are child traffickers and the opposite.
Further efforts and initiatives to enhance law enforcement and legal angles are needed. We call on governments across the world to take a stronger stance and create inconducive environments for paedophilia and child trafficking and any predators that aim to legalise their despicable acts and downgrade the lives of and spirits of Children everywhere in the World.
If our Presidents cared enough, so should we. It is now or never. Paedophilia and Child Trafficking are illegal and no rights should be given to monstrous acts under the legal frame that should only and specifically seek to close these child soul suckers behind bars, leaving their destiny to their fellow inmates that will rightfully and justifiably show no mercy against their sickening, appalling, and absurd sexual preferences.
