Present Day Slavery

I watched Whistleblower, starring Rachel Weisz, and was disturbed by what I saw. Women and girls of economically depressed countries are still being sold into sex slavery and from what I saw in this film, there seems to be very little we can do about it. In the movie, which takes place in the 1990's war torn Bosnia, UN peacekeepers were helping keep this industry afloat.

Men who were sent to keep people safe were working hand in hand with local traffickers. They profited in the selling of women and there was nothing the UN could do to stop them. Since peacekeepers have diplomatic immunity, there was no way to arrest or reprimand those in the wrong. Rachel Weisz's character was a cop from Nebraska who came to Bosnia to become a peacekeeper and blew the lid off of the huge sex scandal and risking her life to do so.

It's based on a true story and this sort of things goes on all over the world today. Young women are lured into the business or sold by family members. They are shipped to other countries, their passports are taken from them and they believe they must work off a debt in order to regain their freedom. No one ever works off that arbitrary debt. These women are disposable commodities, when they're used up or if they dissent, they are killed.

As I said before, it seems there is very little that anyone can do to stop such an atrocity. I really hope I'm wrong. There are thousands of organizations and activists who work hard everyday to help these women towards safety. It's a huge protected circle of disfunctional economics that keeps this going. But I suggest you see this film and check out these websites to learn about what you can do to "re-abolish" slavery:

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

http://www.endhumantrafficking.org/

http://www.womensfundingnetwork.org/resource/past-articles/enslaved-in-america-sex-trafficking-in-the-united-states