Welcome to Hot ’Lanta, known by some as the Hollywood of the South and by others as the birthplace of Coca-Cola, Gone with the Wind, and The Walking Dead. Home to the 1996 Olympics, Atlanta is a booming city filled with arts, entertainment, culture... and human trafficking. With an average of 100 juvenile girls forced into sexual exploitation each night, Atlanta has been branded as one of America's worst cities for human trafficking.
Statisticians believe that over 27 million slaves exist around the world today, 12.3 million of which are forced into slave labor while the other 14.7 million people are sold, traded, and forced into prostitution and sexual exploitation. In the US alone, close to 18,000 people are annually reported as human trafficking victims while the US harbors an estimated population of 100-300,000 children trapped in prostitution.
In Georgia, 374 girls are sexually exploited each month. Additionally, it has been reported that over 12,000 men will pay to have sex with a woman each month while 7,200 of these men, over 50 percent who pay for sex, will illegally fornicate with an adolescent female. These men typically buy their pleasure off of Craigslist and various other websites so that the girls are less susceptible to being arrested for working street corners at night.
Wake up Atlanta! We are faced with an issue like no other, an issue that is barely covered by our local news outlets. Our children, our daughters, our sons, are being captured and sold into slavery before they reach high school. The average age of entry into the commercial sex business ranges from 12-14 years old, sixth to ninth graders. A majority of these children come from broken homes and are either raised by a single parent or deal with a parent suffering from a drug addiction. Over 40 percent of human trafficking victims are either repeat runaways or runaways from the foster care program. The pimps who lure these children into working entice them by offering food, housing, and clothing in exchange for their services. Forty to seventy percent of street youth state that prostitution meets their basic human needs.
The underground sex network of our city is exponentially growing, so as a result, we must rise up and take a stand. In May of 2015, one of the first steps to ending human trafficking in Georgia was put into effect. Rachel’s Law called for the creation of the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund as well as the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund Commission. The Safe Harbor Fund would provide housing, clothing, food, rehabilitative and social services, and other fundamental resources to the victims who have been freed from human trafficking. However, the law also stated that no effect would take place without the passing of Senate Resolution 7, a resolution which would impose further monetary penalties on anyone convicted of illegal sex crimes and impose assessments on adult entertainment establishments to help further fuel the fund.
Well, the time has come. On November 8th, Senate Resolution 7, Amendment 2, will be up to vote. According to ballotpedia, “A "yes" vote supports providing penalties for court cases involving certain sex crimes in order to allocate the generated revenue for the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund.” Rise up! Take a stand! Don’t tolerate the obscene amounts of human trafficking anymore. Vote yes on November 8th. Each night in Georgia, over 100 juvenile girls are forced into sexual exploitation, your vote could save one of these girls and provide her with the resources to receive counseling and continue her education. Be the change you want to see in the world and vote yes for Amendment 2.
