Desperate for income, 16-year-old Khamta* was unwittingly trafficked to another country and sold as a slave.

July 2009

By Vanhlee Lattana, World Vision Laos, and Shawna Templeton, World Vision U.S.

“I wanted money to buy a cell phone and some money to help my family,” explained Khamta,* a beautiful Laotian 16-year-old.

Living with her grandparents in a village in Laos, Khamta dropped out of school after third grade to help with housework and rice farming. But there was never enough money to cover the family’s basic needs, let alone a cell phone (a luxury that is nonetheless not very expensive in Southeast Asia).

Khamta overheard a neighbor talking about jobs available in Thailand, the country bordering Laos to the west. Looking for any chance to earn some money, she sought out a broker who would take her there. Unbeknownst to her, this “broker” sought to traffic girls — like Khamta — for forced labor.

Crossing the border

Along with two friends and a few other girls, Khamta was put in a small wooden boat and forced to lie down on the hard floor while covered with a black plastic sheet. “It was so packed that I could not move and we were not allowed to talk,” she said. “It was horrible.”

When they reached the other side of the river and entered Thailand, another man was waiting for them. They ran to keep up with this stranger as he took them through a thick, dark forest with only a flashlight, traversing a steep hill, tree branches scratching their skin. They stopped only when they reached an old, rundown house.

The girls were then locked in a small room. “We were not allowed to make any sound,” she explained.

Captivity

After three days in the room, the girls were transported to Bangkok, Thailand’s capital city. Khamta and her two friends were taken to a three-story house, where they were forced to work under harsh conditions. The owner of the house shouted insults at the girls when she was not satisfied. “One of my friends was beaten when she couldn’t do what the owner of the house asked her to do,” said Khamta.

After a month of work, Khamta inquired about her wages, only to learn that they had been sold as slaves. They would earn no money, and they would not be going home.

A few days later, in a desperate attempt to escape captivity, one of Khamta’s friends snuck out of a window and ran to find the police.

Officers came to the house and freed the three girls. But no one knows whether the trafficker or homeowner was ever convicted of a crime.

Reunited, but what next?

Khamta was sent to Thailand’s Kredtrakarn shelter, a place of refuge for trafficking survivors. After four months, with the assistance of World Vision, Khamta’s family was identified and she was sent home to be reunited with her kin.

Sadly, life since returning home has been just like it was before. Khamta still has no job. “I still want to work and earn some money,” said Khamta, who spends her days doing household work for her family. “…I need the skills, training, and money.”

Even though Khamta knows the dangers of trafficking, the threat persists. Desperate times do indeed lead to desperate measures.

A global problem

Human trafficking, especially trafficking of children under 18, constitutes a modern slave trade, as in the case of Khamta. It takes on many guises and occurs within countries and across borders. Some examples include:

• Children abducted to fight as child soldiers;
• One person sold to another to serve as a slave or bonded laborer;
• Impoverished girls from rural areas sold or stolen away from their families to serve as sex slaves in brothels.

While there are varying estimates as to the number of persons affected by trafficking (estimates range from 12 million to more than 30 million), what is known is that there are now more slaves in the world today than during all three centuries of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade combined.

‘The Four Ps’

In World Vision’s work around the globe, we frequently encounter women and children enslaved through trafficking or vulnerable to being trafficked. Women and children make up more than 80 percent of all transnational trafficking cases. Poverty is the primary factor.

World Vision’s response to this horrific practice encompasses what is known as “The Four Ps” — prevention, protection, prosecution, and policy. In the effort to end human trafficking, all “Four Ps” must work in concert so that the prevention of trafficking, protection of victims, and the prosecution of traffickers is tied together by effective policy.

“Having a cohesive policy to combat trafficking ensures that everyone is doing their part to protect the lives of women and children from exploitation,” says Jesse Eaves, World Vision’s policy advisor for children in crisis. “An effective policy against trafficking dictates an equal focus on limiting the supply of victims and reducing the demand for their exploitation.”

The Child Protection Compact Act

Recently introduced by Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., the Child Protection Compact Act (HR 2737) is currently being considered in the House of Representatives as a way to strengthen the U.S. contribution to international anti-trafficking laws.

The bill will provide strategic technical and financial resources to targeted countries that have shown the political will to combat trafficking, but lack the trainings and resources to enforce the law. The bill will work to build the capacity of countries to protect victims and prosecute traffickers. World Vision supports this legislation.

“So often, perpetrators go free and women and children suffer because a country’s anti-trafficking laws are not enforced,” Eaves explains. “This legislation will help create new partnerships to ensure that countries punish perpetrators and reduce demand, thus protecting the most vulnerable from exploitation and bondage.”

When trafficking laws are enforced and traffickers are prosecuted, the threat to girls like Khamta is reduced and organizations like World Vision can continue to help the vulnerable seek safe alternatives for income — alternatives that do not lead to slavery and captivity, but life in all its fullness.

* Khamta's name has been changed to protect her identity.