Magnum Photo of the Week: Ukraine and Sex Trafficking

A friend sent me this photo through email this week. Check out the caption and awareness to trafficking that they highlighted.Caption Reads: UKRAINE. 2006. Kids huffing in the outskirts of Kiev. © Jim Goldberg/Magnum Photos
United Nations estimate that between 2 and 4 million people are trafficked worldwide every year. About 200,000 people are illegally brought into the EU each year, the vast majority of them for sexual exploitation. It is estimated that between $7-13 billion a year is made from trafficking. No one agrees to be trafficked. Victims are tricked or forced into a dangerous situation where they have no control. They can be women and children from developing countries, people who lack money or opportunities for work or study and young people who wish to improve their lives - they may be university educated and from all backgrounds, races, and classes. It is not just women either. Men are at risk of being trafficked for unskilled work predominantly involving hard labor. The girl on left had a close acquaintance fall victim to trafficking and lived in constant fear that her fate would be similar.