2006年VOA标准英语-Female Sexual Exploitation Continues to Be

By Margaret Besheer
Washington
08 March 2006

The trafficking of women and girls for forced labor¹ and sexual exploitation is a serious global problem. 

Ethiopian Alem Teklu is 29 years old. When she was 19, a family friend helped her get a job as a maid in Bahrain.  She was promised a salary of $300 a month, but says she received less than half of that. She also owed money to the trafficker who got her the job in Bahrain.

"When I go from here I borrow 10,000 birr, Ethiopian money, and I work there for 15 months," she said.  "When I work 15 months I paid my 10,000 birr. And then I have to take for dress, shoes, like this. I don't have anything. And for six months she didn't pay me, and I was sick. I had nothing when I arrived back in Ethiopia."

Alem says she worked under difficult conditions for three years. When she told her employer she wanted to return home the employer did not want to let her. So Alem ran away and sought help from a friend who worked in a restaurant. She was eventually able to return to Ethiopia, but she says some of her family members were disappointed that she did not come back with any money.

"Some of them, they are angry," she said.  "But my mother, only, she is okay.  My brothers, all, they told me to go back again [to Bahrain]."

Unfortunately, Alem's story is not uncommon². The United Nations says between two and four million people are trafficked each year. The U.S. State Department estimates the number is lower, at between 600,000 and 800,000 people.  That figure includes women, girls, men and boys who are trafficked for forced labor, sexual exploitation and child exploitation.

Among its activities, the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration³ (IOM) directly assists women and girls who have been trafficked. Many of them have been forced to work as prostitutes, others as laborers⁴.

Jemini Pandya is a spokeswoman for the IOM.  She says the trafficking of women is a global problem.

"In Europe, for example, Turkey is a major hotspot for human trafficking, particularly of women for sexual exploitation from Eastern Europe and countries like Moldova and Ukraine," she said.  "In Africa, South Africa is a hub for women who are trafficked from countries in the region and for women who are trafficked from other parts of the world."

Pandya says the problem is also prevalent in Latin America, where women and girls are trafficked to other countries in the region for sexual exploitation and forced labor, as well as exported to Europe and Asia. Women from Asia, meanwhile, are often trafficked into the Middle East, Europe and certain parts of Africa.

She says many of the women being trafficked are single mothers who are looking for a legitimate⁵ way to support their children and are especially vulnerable to traffickers.

"Women who are single parents, who feel the stigma⁶ of being poor, of being single parents or even being divorced, who are unable to provide for their children, are under enormous pressure from society at large and face enormous amounts of stigma," she added.  "So they are willing to take huge risks to find any means to put some bread on the table for their children, and if that means going abroad to work, fine."

She says many of these women think they have good jobs waiting for them as domestic workers or in restaurants, only to arrive in a foreign country and be locked up by traffickers and pimps and be forced to work as prostitutes.

Pandya says women who are lucky enough to return home often do not seek help, because of the stigma attached to having worked in the sex trade.  They often refuse medical help or counseling because they do not want to be identified as victims of trafficking or having worked as prostitutes. 

"Because they fear the stigma it means they are then unable to be screened for any sexually transmitted diseases," she explained.  "Which means they are of course, not able to get medical help that they might need."

The United States is active in the fight against human trafficking, and has recently initiated⁷ a program to designate a certain number of visas for trafficking victims in the United States to remain here and bring over members of their immediate⁸ family.

"It's both a way of giving the victims time and space to kind of recover and not be in a situation where they would become ostracized⁹ from family and from communities," she said.

Today, Alem Teklu is married and has a baby boy.  With the help of government grants, she went to school to study art. She now earns a good living as a sculptress and the owner of a small art school.  Her story has a happy ending, but so many others do not.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

3 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

4 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

5 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

6 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

7 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

8 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

9 ostracized   

v.放逐( ostracize的过去式和过去分词 )；流放；摈弃；排斥

参考例句：

• He was ostracized by his colleagues for refusing to support the strike. 他因拒绝支持罢工而受到同事的排斥。
• The family were ostracized by the neighborhood. 邻居们都不理睬那一家人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》