“The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done ? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. And I said after she has done all these things, "Return to Me" But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. Then I saw that for all the causes backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with land and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretence, saith the Lord.” Jeremiah 3:6-11 (NKJV).
While the sexual revolution of the 80s through the mid 90s may be on the decline in America, the International Sex Trade is currently on a boom in many other countries. Sexual slavery and sexual tourism is a marketable trade for many drug gangs, sex industry employers, sex smugglers, governments, selected bars, and other profiteers who randomly use, capture, smuggle, kidnap, or seduce women and children into prostitution for revenue. Western countries are not immune, and even highly regarded United Nations officials, and other persons of highly regarded employment levels, or income affiliations have not escaped the accusations of either operating, or interacting within an illegal sexual climate which harbors underage, or for the most part controversial clients or employers.
In some countries prostitution is legal, but when it comes to the issue of underage youth, or people being held against their will to engage in illicit sexual discourse, the road towards liberation is eager to be walked. Discrimination practices due to racial, gender, or other inherent differences that steer people into selling their bodies for payment, because they lose hope in the industrial sector of society is also an issue.
Human Rights abuse issues often become the focus of international attention, and while some governments look the other way, others dare to speak out when unethical practices seemingly become ubiquitous beyond their borders.
The list of countries which has an annual influx of vacationers seeking sexual pleasure has grown significantly, and includes no less than Germany, Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, The Dominican Republic, parts of Canada, Ghana, the Gambia, Kenya, Cambodia, India, Russia, the Czech Republic, Jamaica, and to a lesser extent Costa Rica, and many others.
Though traditionally a male dominated trade, the amount of women from wealthier Western nations taking furtive trips, and seeking sexual gratification overseas has grown significantly through out recent years. Known as “Female Sex Tourism” many of these women take overseas trips with one thing on their mind, which is, the desire to be catered to by young men who lack job opportunities in their native lands. For an extra fee of carrying their bags the right way to hotel rooms, these young men of Third World countries often earn extra bucks for their services once they get inside the hotel room, and satiate the women with sexual fulfillment.
Since 1980 it is estimated that over half a million women worldwide have flown to various destinations seeking sexual pleasure, and some 80,000 women from the United States fly annually to Caribbean destinations to do the same. For the part of Europe, many Nordic women fly to West African destinations, and usually wind up in Ghana, or the Gambia to mingle sexually with the local men back at the hotels.
The World Trade Organization, which is an arm of the United Nations has connected many travel agencies to the sex tourist industry, because often times they have been found to be steering people towards sexual contact with overseas potential suitors. The sex trade is not a new issue for the world. However, due to a highly mobile western style press operating on behalf of media outlets, and a voracious appetite by reporters seeking to capture new stories, the issue is in the spotlight.
In some countries, there have been Unions formed to back workers of the sex industry. In England there is The International Union of Sex Workers, and in Canada there is the Canadian Guild For Erotic Workers. In India sex workers have come together to protest legislation to band them from assembling in bars.
Legislation enacted by India's Politicians was originally meant to help stem the rising tide of HIV among the country's citizens, but many Sex Workers only have a basic education, and they began to complain it would cut short their ability to earn an income. Daily survival with their families must take precedent. India's National Network of Sex Workers state these measures would only provide the police the easiest excuses to raid their brothels, and now being about 200,000 strong they have taken to the streets to protest these laws.
