Children’s rights abuses are shocking at any level, and working in the anti-slavery field I am not as likely to be shocked as many, due to the fact that I have heard so many unimaginable stories of abuse that I am sadly rarely surprised at what a human is capable of doing to another. Don’t get me wrong, my life is fueled by an unstoppable passion to end such atrocities and to support those who have survived them, but one develops a thick skin and a certain type of mental block to such stories of trauma, which is more of a sense of self preservation. As the cold hard truth is that you are only but one in an endless sea trying to speak for the millions who are silenced. Therefore if one is to become consumed by all of these stories, it is difficult to focus on the positive and bringing about change and aid those in need. However every once and a while a story shakes you and sit with you. Recently a few stories which have caused me to take a moment of reprieve and question the atrocities that human nature is capable of.
I am all too aware of honor killings and the plague of gender-based violence that continues to endanger girls across many cultures, including that of honour killings. However a recent story of a 16 year-old Turkish girl, who was buried alive for talking with boys, somehow seemed to shock me over many other reports of stoning’s and acid burnings. ‘A postmortem examination revealed large amounts of soil in her lungs and stomach, indicating that she had been alive and conscious while being buried.’ According to reports the young girl was bound and burried alive just outside a window of her family home, a family “council” meeting. According to Turkish government figures over 200 honour killings occur every year, approximately half of the country’s murder rate. (Guardian)
This week I was watching the film Breaking Point, in which a pimp through a baby out of the window, luckily for the child in the film he was caught by an unsuspecting hereon. The friend I was watching the film with turned to me and said I cannot believe someone could do that to an innocent baby. I stated in the heinous world of pimp controlled prostitution, which is domestic sex trafficking, and other forms of modern slavery, such stories are all too real. I then told him of the recent story about a Sex Slave’s Baby found Entombed In Cement And Rubbermaid.
That all said I do still live in a world full of hope, as I have not only heard the most horrid stories of human nature, but the most selfless. Stories of courage and boundless compassion of the human spirit thankfully overcome the horrors that cast a shadow on the true heart of human nature. In the end good does triumph over evil, however one can often get lost in the darkness. Therefore we must work together to ensure we continue to shine the light and work to see stories such as this are no longer allowed to happen.
