At LETS we believe that the current environment for women and children in crisis is unsustainable and unsafe. If you’re not convinced, consider this statistic. In America an average of 738 children enter foster care every day. That’s 30 every hour. One every two minutes. Children are being born into homes that can’t sustain them.

(US Department of Human Services – 2015)

To compound the issue many women that end up trafficked in the US and in other countries become pregnant. According to Hestia, based in the UK, one in four female slavery survivors in the UK are pregnant when they escape from their captors and birth their children into poverty. This is happening in developed and developing countries alike. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies can also result in abortion for these women. According to a study by Global Centurion, 55% of the trafficked women surveyed had at least one abortion, and 30% had multiple abortions during the time of trafficking.

Birth rates are indicating a worrying trend. According to the UN the global birth rate is 44 per 1000 women aged 15-19 and is 5 times higher in low-income countries. It is likely that 5 x more children are at risk of being born into poverty in these countries.

Many men and women also avoid or have little education about contraception. According to the World Health Organization 214 million women of reproductive age in developing countries, who want to avoid pregnancy are not using a contraceptive method.

Educational opportunities for family planning are not available to the extent that they need to be. In some countries, such as Haiti and Mozambique, almost half of sexually active, unmarried women ages 15 to 19 have an unmet need for family planning.

(Population Reference Bureau)

With no family planning, little or no education about fertility and no support, women in developing countries are increasingly seeking abortions.

Women in developing regions have a higher likelihood of having an abortion than their counterparts in developed regions: The abortion rates are 36 per 1,000 women and 27 per 1,000, respectively. We do know that in many cases, abortions are also unsafe and unsanitary and can result in infection, disease and death.

(Guttmacher Institute)

From 1990-2014 the number of abortions fell from 12 to 7 million in developed regions and increased from 38 million to 49 million in developing regions. Abortions in developing regions account for 76% to 80% of all abortions. That’s over ¾ of all abortions globally – an incredibly worrying trend.

(Guttmacher Institute)

What’s the outcome for those children who do live? The outcome for those who survive birth, particularly in developing countries is very troubling. Many are given or sold into sex slavery. Two million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade.

(UNICEF)

Human trafficking is the second most profitable crime alongside weapons. Drug trafficking is the most profitable.

According to UNICEF every two minutes a child is being prepared for sexual exploitation globally.

One in four victims of modern slavery are children.  If these children do happen to stay within their family, many are also faced with poverty from the moment that they are born.

(International Labor Organization)

One billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.

4 out of 5 children in some developing countries that are in orphanages have at least one living parent and most have some extended family.

(Save the Children)

Developed countries are not immune to this crisis. These trends are also prevalent in developed countries such as the US, though the onset and risks often come in different forms than in the developing world. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime up to 300,000 Americans under 18 are lured into the commercial sex trade every year. From 14,500 – 17,500 of sex trafficking victims are trafficked into the United States each year.

The European Union reported over 30,000 victims of trafficking from 2010-2012 and 1,000 of these victims were children trafficking for sexual exploitation.