---

We at STF are big fans of Nicholas Kristof and his op-ed pieces in the NY Times. Last week he posted two excellent articles about trafficking in Cambodia. The first was about a brothel raid that he participated in with an anti-trafficking hero, Somaly Mam. At the end of that article he wrote:

Ultimately, the way to end this scourge is to make it less profitable and more risky for the traffickers. Above all, that means targeting not the girls but putting traffickers and pimps in jail, whether in Cambodia or in New York.

Slowly, that is happening. I can see the progress here in Cambodia, where 10-year-old girls were openly for sale when I began reporting on forced prostitution. Now they’re still sold, but fewer of them, and more discreetly — and traffickers are going to jail. There may well be prostitution a century from now, but we don’t have to accept 12-year-olds being raped until they get AIDS.

The second focused on the face of one particular survivor, Srey Pov. As usual, focusing in on the story of an individual is extremely compelling. He tells of her experiences after she was sold to a brothel at age 6. However, he focuses on the triumphant ending over her escape at age 9 and talks of other survivors like her who are blossoming into strong, well-educated advocates determined to end trafficking. He closes with this:

Srey Pov, Lithiya and Somaly encountered a form of oppression that echoes 19th-century slavery. But the scale is larger today. By my calculations, at least 10 times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

So for those of you doubtful that “modern slavery” really is an issue for the new international agenda, think of Srey Pov — and multiply her by millions. If what such girls experience isn’t slavery, that word has no meaning. It’s time for a 21st-century abolitionist movement in the U.S. and around the world.

Are you ready to join the movement?

---

---