On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Nov. 25) and during the next 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, the Committee to Stop Trafficking in Persons, NGO CSTIP, is calling special attention to trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation.
We join the United Nations Secretary General’s UNiTE to end Violence against Women campaign’s call to “Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls.” As groups raise awareness about the pandemic of gender-based violence affecting 1 in 3 women in their lifetime, we cannot forget that sex trafficking is one of the most deplorable forms of violence against women and a crime that targets the most marginalized among us.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, women and girls make up 71% of all detected trafficking victims and 96% of all sex trafficking victims. Further, women and girls trafficked for forced labor also frequently face sexual violence and exploitation. No matter how you look at the issue, women and girls are disproportionately vulnerable to sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.
