Forced Prostitution
Sex trafficking is being fueled by high demand for paid sex across the world, and an insufficient supply of women who voluntarily seek employment as prostitutes, so women are trafficked to meet unmet demand and reap huge profits. The victims are often kidnapped or tricked with the offer of good jobs, and are then subjected to regular brutal rape and extreme violence.
It is estimated that there are approximately 4.2 million victims being exploited in forced prostitution providing traffickers with annual illicit profits in the order of US$32 billion. 98% of these victims are women and girls and up to 50% are children.
Many in forced prostitution may also be subject to debt bondage, and charged excessive amounts for travel, visas, food, accommodation, room hire, and living expenses. Some women may be forced to service 800 men sexually just to clear their initial debt.
In some countries with strong class hierarchies, certain lower-class women are practically born into prostitution. In India and Nepal, for example, where the caste system is strong, girls from certain castes are pushed into prostitution from a young age, many times by their mothers. Some studies report that close to 90 percent of sex workers’ daughters in India join the profession.