AIDS and human trafficking

The AIDS epidemic is making it easier for traffickers to find vulnerable children to force and deceive into sex slavery. In countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa where AIDS has left many thousands of families with children as their heads, there is no one to protect children and young women from traffickers. Where there is desperation people are easily deceived. In many places in Asia there is a myth that children are less likely to be infected and so there is a greater and greater demand for young prostitutes. In India there is a widespread belief that if a man who is HIV positive has sex with a virgin he will be cured. In fact children are more likely to contract HIV as their tissue tears more easily. Far from men being cured, thousands of children are being infected by the disease after they have been trafficked. The transport of people across borders also makes it much harder for governments to tackle their country’s HIV problem. The cause of ending trafficking is thus closely bound up with the fight against HIV/AIDS.