Behind that narrow winding road, in the loneliness of that abyss, lies a little girl, with dreams and aspirations in her eyes. She isn’t unlike you, or me, for that matter. She giggles when she sees an ice-cream truck, she scampers behind bubbles, she makes sand castles and of course, she does play the part of a princess. Her big brown eyes reflect innocence and the joys of a young mind. Yes, she does get upset when she is abandoned, she cries when she is used, but once again, her cries fall upon deaf ears.
The global market of child trafficking is at over $12 billion a year with over 1.2 million child victims according to the UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). Children are raped, molested, sexually abused and transported across borders like water. Why is it that in spite of all the efforts being taken all over the world, the upper limit on child-trafficking just never seems to stabilize? Maybe it is because children have no say of their own, no power that they can defend themselves with, no shield against the strength of people who have lived life with all its hassles and emerged shrewder and ghastlier. Their voices remain oppressed, and their bodies remain disposable. Sex sells, they say. Well, at what cost?
‘The average age of entry for children victimized by the sex trade industry is 12 years.’ says the U.S. Department of Justice. Child pornography is the fastest growing crime in the world with a 2500% rise in arrests in the last ten years. On closer inspection, turns out, majority of the children involved are either abandoned, or leading an excuse of a life, where love is a rare commodity, leave alone education. In such scenarios, they can’t be expected to hope for much better. One of the simple remedies we could adopt is to inculcate a deep sense of righteousness and awareness in the world.
Maybe if we didn’t have as many people having unwanted kids in one mistaken night, we wouldn’t have so many problems. A little more caution, a little less alcohol. Maybe, someday, the world will be a more pleasant place to bring children into. Child trafficking is a heartless crime indeed. And yet, people from all over the world, continue to ‘use’ and ‘dispose’ for money, a child’s innocence.