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.
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.