The use of the internet to sell things comes as no shock in our high tech digital age; however, what about the distribution of child pornography and the selling of children? The sad reality is that the use of such sites as MySpace and Craigslist have been at the forefront of these illicit and horrendous crimes. When people tell you that ‘you can literally buy anything online’, they are not kidding! The policing of such activities is has always been difficult for the authorities, but many question the sites themselves for even allowing services of such a sexual nature to even be advertised, thus opening the door for a multitude of illegal activities.
Last month, Love146 initiated a “Call to Action” campaign to ask Craiglist, popular public marketplace website, to make a New Year's resolution of better monitoring its “Erotic Services” section in order to pro-actively prevent the sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes. However Craigslist has thus far failed to respond to Love 146's letter, and thus they are asking supporters to boycott the Craigslist website “until they publicly declare a 2008 resolution to implement safeguards and monitoring procedures that will eradicate the sale of human beings on the erotic services section of the website”. You an find Love 146's petition letter here
Other organizations including, the Salvation Army, Polaris Project, The Loose Change to Loosen Chains Campaign, the NOT FOR SALE Campaign, Students and Artists Fighting to End Human Slavery, and many others are joining the fight against the use of sites such as Craigslist.
Stories such as the one about an Oakland Man who was Indicted For Pimping Teens On Web, are becoming all to common. The man was charged with the trafficking of two underage girls, for which he used sites, including Craigslist, to sell the girls as escorts.
Over the past year alone a number of pedophiles have have used craigslist to search for and solicit, including Brian Lee Nestor who's ad posted this past September in the “Casual Encounters” section read; “Anybody into family fun? …bring your son and hang out with us.” (Craigslist.org a source of crimes). The site also has an “Erotic Services” section, which while trolling one can easily see a number of suspicious ad's for young providers claiming to be 18, however looking at many photos the question of age is quick to come to mind. Seeing ad's that read; “It's my duty to please and perform your unforgettable desires”, one has to question who is really behind the numerous faceless young boys and girls who litter the various sections of craigslist. Other ad's reading, “Older guy looking for young…”, “Daddy type seeking single young girl for fun and more.”, “Sugar Daddy For Young Hottie”, are ripe for traffickers to pawn their young victims on.
“…despite its millions of users and various social benefits, there's a dark side of Craigslist that most users don't see. In the "Erotic" section, human traffickers have found Craigslist to be one of the most efficient, effective (and free) ways to post children and women for sale.” –Katherine Chon Executive Director and Co-Founder of Polaris Project.
The sad reality is that the fight to end child trafficking has only just begun, and the road ahead is a long and difficult one, however the first big steps are being made. With the help of organizations and individuals we can work to eradicate this monstrous crime, to see that children are no longer seen as commodities availible for sale on the open market.
Links:
Craigs Crime List – The craigslist crime blotter
International Developments Section of Regulation of Child Pornography on the Internet – Cases and Materials related to Child Pornography on the Internet
