Child Rescued on the Eve of Rape Initiation

From The International Justice Missions: 

MUMBAI - On the night she was supposed to be raped for the first time, young sex trafficking victim Lona*was plucked from the brink of initiation into a life of forced prostitution by police officials working with International Justice Mission in Mumbai.

Police rescued the child from the exploitative grip of a Mumbai husband-and-wife couple whoThis is not the girl in this story, but from a video I will post. IJM contacted me concerned because "Indian law forbids the publication of images of victims of sex crimes without their expressed consent." It woiuld not be right to give the impression IJM photographed a victim without her consent. had allegedly purchased Lona from a relative in West Bengal for a paltry 1500 rupees—less than $35 US. They intended to exploit the girl’s virginity for a sum of 30,000 rupees, and then sell her to a dance bar or brothel

The girl was only thirteen years old, her age confirmed through an age verification test at a local hospital. She has been placed in an after care with other young girls who came from similar situations.

Read the rest here.

Not For Sale and Proposition K

From their newsletter. Proposition K sought to make prostituion legal in the San Fransico district.

Horrifying to think this could have passed all in the name of allowing people the freedom to do as they want. The problem is, this "freedom" would have destroyed the freedom of many weak and innocent people.

Ensuring Victims of Human Trafficking are not Overlooked We at Not For Sale would like to take this opportunity to thank the voters of San Francisco for taking an analytical look at Proposition K and realizing the dangerous implications it contained for victims of trafficking. As an organization Not for Sale, along with the “No On K” Coalition actively worked to defeat this Proposition and on November 4th San Franciscans came out and voiced their opposition to K. Proponents to K attempted to hide the dangerous implications of K by downplaying the significant role human trafficking plays within the industry in San Francisco and characterizing the efforts of Not for Sale and other organizations as “racial profiling”. Upon first glance Proposition K, a proposition to decriminalize prostitution, might seem like a ballot measure that would increase the rights of individuals working within the sex industry. In reality this proposition, masquerading as a progressive measure, would have greatly undermined the efforts of local law enforcement to prevent and combat human trafficking. This initiative would have essentially tied the hands of San Francisco law enforcement when attempting to combat human trafficking. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris voiced her opposition for Proposition K stating it “would expressly bar the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking crimes... Many people in the commercial sex trade have been trafficked and forced to participate in commercial sex. This measure would attempt to provide safe harbor to their traffickers.” The dark secret about Proposition K, discovered by many San Francisco voters, is that Prop K would have created a legal loophole emboldening human traffickers within San Francisco by providing them with virtually free reign. Not for Sale, and many others, worked tirelessly to ensure that victims of human trafficking were not further marginalized by the passage of Proposition K. Lets continue to work together to ensure the victims of human trafficking have the rights and services they desperately need and deserve. Thank you San Francisco for your support!