$31.6 billion! This astronomical number represents the annual value of all human lives traded in the world, whether in the form of sexual slavery or forced domestic labor.

On August 19, Talitha Koumi will fly (in a manner of speaking, of course) for another humanitarian trip to Indonesia. Founded in 2017 by Daniel Jean and Mona Simard following a photo report by the latter, Talitha Koumi is an NGO entirely dedicated to the fight against the sex trafficking of underage girls in this magnificent country.

Whether you are familiar with the scourge of modern slavery or not, here is the latest information from the UN organization Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking. This data leaves no one indifferent. And yet, they only reflect the tip of the iceberg because as you will see, the problem that is mainly concentrated in the Asia/Pacific region is one where saving face is of the utmost importance…

It is a global phenomenon

So, while you are reading these lines, 2.5 million people are being traded in the world, at any moment. And this, at any hour of the day. 1.5 million of these people live in the Asia/Pacific region. For this region, the revenue generated is 9.7 billion dollars annually. When you know that the average salary in Indonesia is 240$ CAD (if you are lucky), you realize the magnitude of the sum.

161 countries claim to be affected by this scourge. More precisely, the victims come from 127 countries and are exploited in 137 countries. This is a global, worldwide and borderless problem.

And the victims?

Whether for sexual exploitation or forced labor, the majority of victims worldwide are between 18 and 24 years old, but the number of trafficked children is (under)estimated at 1.2 million.

95% of victims will suffer physical or sexual violence and half of the victims who will be forced to offer sexual services are women and girls.

Traffickers, now:

Two things stunned Daniel Jean when he did his report in 2017:

1- The extreme trivialization of prostitution, and

2- The majority of pimps are women.

So you won’t be surprised (and I wouldn’t be, by the way) to learn that 52% of traffickers are men and 42% are women. In addition, in 46% of cases, the trafficker/recruiter (the two often go hand in hand) is known to the victim.

Talitha Koumi also came to the aid of a victim who had been recruited (deceived in fact) by a friend under the pretext of a job in a restaurant in the capital, Jakarta. In fact, she found herself a prisoner in a brothel in Papua. It was the army, assisted by the police, who got her out of there.

Finally, as far as traffickers are concerned, the majority of these criminals are nationals, as are the abusive clients. We often like to imagine that it is tourists who, in the majority, are the abusers but we discovered that this is only the case for 3% of abuses.

A case in point: Indonesia

As mentioned previously, there is nothing more important for an Asian than saving face. If we combine this with an endemic corruption problem, a pitiful social status for women and a general acceptance of prostitution, we grasp the full extent of the difficulty of fighting against sexual exploitation.

To support our argument, here are some tables for you to look upon: