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, including the sale of children for sex. The internet has become one of, if not the largest, hub for the solicitation and purchase of minors for sex. Child victims of sex trafficking are sold on a multitude of sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Craigslist, and the battle to see these sites are unable to facilitate the trafficking of persons has been, and continues to remain, a series of uphill battles. However after continuous campaigning and pressure from across the country battles are begging to be won.
The biggest, and most public, battle has been that against online classified giant, Craigslist. Please see my previous post Selling Children Online for more on the lengthy history to see the sight bans its adult services section, which has been notoriously used as an instrument for traffickers/pimps and Johns alike.
On September 15, 2010 both anti-trafficking experts and a representative from Craigslist testified before the U.S. Congress on domestic child sex trafficking. The Congressional hearing was focused around the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Victims Support Act, which if passed, it would provide critical resources such as shelter, law enforcement training, and rehabilitative services for the estimated 100,000 child victims of sex trafficking in the United States. Those working to protect domestic victims of sex trafficking are pushing hard to see the act is passed to help fill the large gap in funding, as the U.S. currently spends more on human trafficking abroad than domestically. Additionally within the U.S. foreign victims of trafficking are forded more support than than that of their domestic counterparts.
Craigslist had been silent since they blocked the sites controversial “adult services” section less than two week prior (CNN). However the silence was broken by Clint Powell, Director of Customer Service and Law Enforcement Relations for Craigslist, at the hearing as he stated that the adult services sections of the site are permanently gone from the U.S. To some the battle is large and long over due to others it is just a small step, as the companies additional 250 country sites continue to operate adult services sections. If you missed the hearing you can see full coverage on C-Span.
The recent hearing is far from the end of child sex trafficking on the Internet, and only the beginning in many ways. Craigslist may have been the main site in the spotlight, but they are not alone and as the demand for commercial sex and child sex trafficking continues, the statement; “when one door closes another opens” is sadly to be the case in this ongoing fight. One such sight which has come into the spotlight is Backpage.com a site similar to Craigslist. The Village Voice Media, which owns Backpage.com, has recently been drawn into the spotlight as a Missouri girl has recently filled suit against the company over sex ads (AP).
Another long overdue victory in the fight against sex trafficking has been won over one of the country’s leading newspapers, The Washington Post. After considerable outcry and campaigning the Post will no longer run massage parlor ads, often fronts for brothels. Stuart C. McKeel, a top official in The Post’s advertising department, stated in a note; “It has become clear to us that our existing standards needed to evolve,” it added. “We have therefore decided not to accept such advertisements going forward.” (Washington Post). Please see the following post in the DC Human Rights Examiner, I ran last year to learn more about the history of the long fight to end such ads.
The issue is clear, women and children have been sold on the site’s like Craigslist and in the Washington Post for sex and they enabled it! While these two success stories, both long overdue and after years of considerable outcry, are a great lead that allows us to be much closer to winning the battle against sex trafficking, it is in part only the beginning and we must see that other sights such as Backpage.com end such egregious practices, as well as address the issue of demand.
