Girls exploited

Trafficked and sexually exploited woman and girls can find themselves facing prosecution and conviction for those very same crimes, in some countries, a new UN report shows. The study aims to help prosecutors to better handle these complex cases, and protect the genuine victims. A criminal case in Canada, to take one example from the report, involved an year-old woman defendant was charged with the forced prostitution of two female minors, aged 14 and She had instructed one of them on how to dress, and what to do with clients, and taken away the cell phone of the other, to prevent her from escaping. She was found guilty and sentenced to eight months in prison. However, it was revealed during the case that she too was a victim of sexual exploitation.

She is now confined to the seclusion unit of a psychiatric hospital under suicide watch. Susan, herself a victim of child sexual exploitation, desperately wanted her child to be protected from the same fate. Those exploiting the teenager were allegedly able to call for her in taxis sent to the home. At one point Susan gave the police the names of 21 suspects — but, she claims, police did little to investigate.

Each day brought a fight for food; each night a fight against predators who exploit the vulnerable. A baby in her arms and a toddler at her knee, Happy waits in the dusty street as we approach her shack. On our way here, a swarm of heroin addicts surrounded us in an alley, asking for money and offering us syringes. We passed men picking through a mountain of trash in a vacant lot.

The defendants are all in custody. The girls were chosen because they had troubled upbringings which made it less likely that anyone would have parental control over them or be looking for them, he added. To receive notifications about news, interesting publications, upcoming events, suggestion on courses and vacancies in the region.