Chab Dai staff from around the globe share “I bet you didn’t know this” facts about human trafficking, based on their work as practitioners on the ground, & through complementary academic research. Human trafficking happens globally, and we are working in the USA, Cambodia, & Canada!
Joan, Chab Dai USA Program Manager, is based in Sacramento where our office has been operational since 2008, she says:
"Did you know that an estimated 200,000 American children are at high risk of being trafficked for sexual exploitation each year?
Did you know trafficking is one of today's fastest growing criminal industries? Poverty, inequality and gender are factors that increase vulnerability but they, in and of themselves, don't cause trafficking. Just like other industries, human trafficking is a demand-driven market and it touches every nation across the globe, including the United States.”
Helen, Chab Dai International Director, shares from over 10 years of living in Cambodia and being involved with the issue of trafficking:
“Human trafficking is much more complex than most people want to understand. The focus is often on sex trafficking, but for us labor trafficking and migration is as important.
Our work has two major components: prevention and demand. Without targeting the demand, trafficking will never end. Lot of people get confused with prostitution and human trafficking, which creates debates that sometimes aren’t actually addressing human trafficking.
Probably 2% of the prostitutes have chosen their job. My focus is on the 98% who never had a choice.”
Yeng, Chab Dai Cambodia Country Directory, speaks from his experience starting and implementing a grassroots trafficking prevention project across Cambodia:
“In the rural areas in Cambodia the people have little knowledge of human trafficking and they trust people too much, especially those from the cities.
Also many people don’t know about the fact that a lot of boys are being sexually abused in Cambodia.”
Julia, Chab Dai Canada Coordinator, is an advocate to end trafficking and started our office in Montreal in 2009:
“Every year 1500 women are brought into Canada as slaves. One thing that surprises a lot of people is that forced marriage is happening in Canada today, especially in the Jewish and Mormon communities.
There was also a recent case outside of Toronto where 19 Hungarian men were bonded in the basement, working 18 hours a day with one meal per day. This is modern slavery happening in our own neighborhood.”
For information about these statistics & thoughts, learn more by downloading our Recommended Reading List, or by contacting us.
