Today is World AIDS Day, and around the world, sex trafficking victims are some of the people most vulnerable to HIV infection. But eradicating HIV can actually help eradicate sex trafficking and vice versa. This World AIDS Day, check out what you can do to fight HIV/AIDS and sex trafficking at the same time.
Sex trafficking and HIV are linked in two important ways: sex trafficking victims are more vulnerable to HIV than many other groups and sex trafficking spreads and exacerbates HIV and AIDS. While all people in the commercial sex industry are vulnerable to HIV infection, sex trafficking victims are often at the highest risk. Since trafficking victims -- by definition -- cannot control their situation, they cannot insist on safer sex practices, like condoms. Even if condoms are available in the brothel where a trafficking victim is held, she may not have the power to insist upon, or even suggest, their usage. Trafficking victims are frequently raped and exposed to violent sexual behavior, which can cause tissue tears that make HIV transmission more likely. And once a trafficking victim contracts HIV, it is highly unlikely she will be tested, diagnosed, and treated for the disease, thus allowing the AIDS to develop. Additionally, women and children widowed or orphaned by AIDS are at increased risk for trafficking.
Sex trafficking also proliferates the global AIDS epidemic. Since trafficking victims are rarely tested and treated for HIV infections, they may continue to be forced to have unprotected sex with hundreds or thousands of men before exhibiting any symptoms. The cross-border transportation which sometimes accompanies sex trafficking operations also spreads the disease, as one infected victim can infect the men who buy her in several different regions or countries. Those men may go on and infect other partners, both in and out of the commercial sex industry. Furthermore, some cultural myths about AIDS, like the idea that sex with a virgin will cure an HIV infection, cause infected men to seek out unprotected sex with young trafficked women.
Because of these deep connections, a reduction in global HIV infections means a reduction in people vulnerable to trafficking and one less harm experienced by sex trafficked women and children. And a reduction in global sex trafficking means one fewer way HIV can be spread across the globe. So this World AIDS Day, take action to fight trafficking by fighting AIDS. Here are some ways to take action:
- Sign the UNICEF petition to stop the the global pediatric AIDS epidemic and pledge to stand for programs that provide care and education for millions of HIV–positive children, as well as those who are orphaned by the disease. These children are at high risk for human trafficking.
- Support a National AIDS Strategy for the U.K., where recent reports have found that as many as 1 in 10 women in the commercial sex industry are trafficked, and many others have additional vulnerabilities to HIV.
- Participate in Facing AIDS, a photography project that uses Flickr to demonstrate how America is facing the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Make a sign that says you're facing AIDS to end sex trafficking.
- Join the ONE Campaign's initiative to ensure no child is born with HIV after 2015. When HIV destroys families and communities, members become more vulnerable to trafficking and other abuses.
- Save a celebrity from digital death and a child from a real one by donating $10 at Digital Death or texting a "BUYLIFE" to 90999. When children have access to medical care, they're less vulnerable to abuse.
If everyone did something to fight AIDS today, we'd be a whole lot closer to eradicating two epidemics -- modern day slavery and HIV. Will you do your part to take out these two insidious ills? It only take a mouse click, snapshot, or text message, but together we can be the social change needed to finally beat AIDS.
Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic
5 Ways to Fight Sex Trafficking and HIV on World AIDS Day | End Human Trafficking | Change.org
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