Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Startled to have a glimpse of the Real World...

Yesterday, as usual, i lepak at Nisa's place and decided to laze around watching Dancing On Ice (schmoking!) and later on, Rove Live with Durra, Syada, Nisa and Harvin.... All was well, Rove was crazy (like he always has been) and there was Nick Lachey (Rove called him "Lick Nachey"), Mischa Barton and Nelly Furtado on the show that night.. So, let's just say part of the night was a hedonistic indulgement apatah lagi diselangi dengan kek coklat susu lemak berkrim disukai ramai buatan Nisa dicicah dengan hazelnut blend jenama Home Brand...

But as Syada flipped the channels while Rove was on break, we tuned in to a mini series on channel 7... Judging from the credibility of channel 7, there's always something nice on.. So, Syada checked the TV Guide and told me that the mini series that was on is something called "Human Trafficking". So, I watched it and I tell you, I was surprised at the sincerity and the intensity of the series... It uncovered the international crime scheme that does human trafficking for the sex industry around the world.. Based on a true story, I was startled to realise that this is happening in the world.. A 12 year old American girl is kidnapped in Manila while she on a vacation with her parents and innocent girls from 3rd world countries are brought to either developing or the developed nations, both for fulfilling the demands of the evergrowing market.

Considering that prostitution is, indeed, the oldest trade in the world, the human trafficking business is seen as a guaranteed money maker for the operator. Imagine a woman who is sold for merely USD1500, will be sold over and over again, at least 3 times a day, 25 days in a month for USD150 each time... That ludacrative outcome has been the main reason why the business has never been successfully controlled by any government in the world. Furthermore, many countries, ie Denmark and German, decided to legalise sex industry after seeing the potential of the trade to develop itself and at the same, intending to keep the industry "clean". Hearing this actually made me sick, although I must admit that might mean that I am being entirely ethnocentric... But as far as I'm concerned, prostitution was never admitted as a more in any society and woman should never be seen as a product/item for any reasons at all.

I didn't have the guts to watch the miniseries till the end. I couldn't sleep the whole night. I wondered, is it because we don't care about the issue that it has become such a worrying dillemma in the world???? It is happening everywhere... A girl is sold to a brothel for a mere USD 40 directly after being born by her poor Calcutta parents, a 16 year old Cambodian girl was forced to be trafficked to Malaysia after her father failed to pay the impending debt of USD150, a 17 year old Brazilian who thought she has secured a modelling career in USA left her blind father at home so that she would able to make more money to improve their living only to find out that she is to work as a prostitute in return of the favour of the agent who brought her across the border. And the more gruesome fact is that, the South East Asian countries are the destination for child prostitution.

The issue is not merely a women issue, but rather a question of humanity. If we don't do our part, it will continue to contaminate the world. It is surprising to see that people with positions in the society such as your local dentist, GP, district attorney and teachers being involved and convicted as sexual predators. If we don't try to curb the problem now, maybe we never will and face the possiblity that one day, our children be the next victim when we least expected...

For more information on the issue, here are some links you could surf and a channel to deepen your awareness.

http://www.humantrafficking.org/

http://www.lib.msu.edu/harris23/crimjust/human.htm

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article359820.ece

http://www.globalrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=wwd_index_49

Jazakallahu khairan kathiran...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is a very sick world that we are living in ...

sedihkan tgk cite tu?

Ana Shirin said...

sediiiihhhh...

did you know that human trafficking is the third most active worldwide crime after drug trafficking and illegal weapons distribution??

sad and dangerous world we live in

me said...

yeah i know..even oprah had made a coverage on this issue and that was like a few years back..it's never-ending i tell you! the fact that it's working it's way secretly and actively underground makes it not known..i assume lah!

again, females are the victims and it is just soooooo sad!