What I’d like to say about trafficking, sex trafficking that is, is that it is illegal in most of the European countries which I find incredibly good. Outside of Europe, other countries are also making progress. In Sout Africa, for example, a number of cases of trafficking have recently led to prosecutions. A conviction was made in the case Adina dos Santos. She served time in prison for the taking of three girls and forcing them into prostitution. This particular case really affected trafficking in South Africa because of the fact that convictions are very rare.
I absolutely don’t think that trafficking should exist, especially not sex trafficking. It is truly a violation of human rights. Every individual should have the right to be free, the right of human pride, and to not be oppressed. Women and children are not goods which can be bought and sold when and where you want, one should accept that this is not the way it works.
Sex trafficking is degrading, just like other kinds of offenses, like the weapon industry. One should know that as long as men buy, sell and sexually exploit women and children, the world will never be equal, something I believe is very important. Every individual should have a right to personal safety, a right to be free of torture, dehumanising or degrading treatment, a right to be treated as equals, and so on. Therefore I believe, that if women and children are being sold or bought, they are definitely not free of torture.
I absolutely don’t think that one should use women and children for anything, sex trafficking for example, just because men historically were seen as worth more than women. One has to start realising that this no longer is the case, women and children have a right to self determination, they have rights to a lot more now than they used to.
I really hope that men out there who engage in these kinds of activities, reflect on what I have written and actually make a change.
Rounak, 18 years old, Angeredsgymnasiet
Read the other students thoughts here.