LIFE IS HARD

DYING IS EASY

 

 

 

 

medal of freedom

 

 

 

 

It's All for Sale

SLAVES

 

"More slaves exist in the world today than ever before in history. Some 27 million people currently live in bondage.. At least 800,000 people—mostly women and children—are bought and sold on the world market each year. They are made to toil in sweatshops, fields, and brothels, and on construction sites in both developed and developing countries. Trading in human beings is high profit, and low risk, 'because unlike other commodities, people can be used repeatedly, and because trafficking requires little in terms of capital investment.' *"

 

"For an American citizen, educated to believe slavery is outlawed in most places, the statistics seem almost unbelievable: 30,000 children in India; anywhere from 80,000 to 800,000 in Thailand; 25,400 children in the Dominican Republic; 3,000 in Bogota; 5,000 in Mexico; 70,000 women and girls in South Africa; 185,000 prostitutes in Vietnam, 30 percent of whom are under 16."

 

"Many of these children become infected with AIDS. One report found that at least two-thirds of child prostitutes in Thailand are HIV positive.**"

 

—James Ridgeway, 2004

 

 

 

 

* Jacobs, "Slavery Worldwide Evil."

** Advocates for Free the Children, "Sexual Exploitation" (Aug. 2003).