KBIA Local
(2008-09-22)
COLUMBIA, MO
(KBIA) -
A group of students from Stop Traffic spoke up at Peace Park today to make people aware of human trafficking. Stop Traffic Vice President Kessaya Speckman explains how she became involved in anti-trafficking. "We were working with young girl who had been exploitated in a sex tourism industry of Costa Rica. That pulled on my heart strings and I was definitely became passionate about them. And my heart was broken for them."
Speckman says sex exploitation often happens along I-70 at truck stops and other places. According to the organization Not For Sale, between 15,000 and 17,000 people are trafficked into the United States each year. Fifty percent of the trafficking victims are children and 80 percent are women. © Copyright 2009, KBIA