In the Dominican Republic, an estimated 10 percent of children are sexually exploited. According to Project Rescue, the average age around the world for a child sex slave is 13, and the average cost for a child sex slave is $150.

But child sexual exploitation is not only an overseas issue. According to U.S. law enforcement, there are at least 20,000 children manipulated and forced to engage in prostitution on a daily basis -- the actual number is unknown. What is known is that child sexual violence and exploitation has been growing dramatically around the world for the past couple of decades.

Advances in technology and communication have served to exacerbate the problem. But contrary to popular opinion, child pornography is not confined to seedy Web sites. Mainstream Web sites, such as Craig's List, allow for "barely legal" adult offers.

In the U.S., the high demand and easy money is a lure for vulnerable children. In 2005, The New York Times told Justin Berry's story. At 13 years old, Justin entered a life he eventually realized he would not be able to leave without significant intervention. Thankfully, he did obtain the help he needed. But his story exemplifies the evolution and ease of child exploitation in a high-tech world. The article stated,

A six-month investigation into this corner of the Internet found that such sites had emerged largely without attracting the attention of law enforcement or youth protection organizations …. "We've been aware of the use of the Webcam and its potential use by exploiters," said Ernest E. Allen, chief executive of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a private group. "But this is a variation on a theme that we haven't seen. It's unbelievable."

Of course, child exploitation goes beyond Internet pornography. After a series of investigations in the early '90s, the FBI stated:

the utilization of computer telecommunications was rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent techniques by which some sex offenders shared pornographic images of minors and identified and recruited children into sexually illicit relationships. In 1995, based on information developed during this investigation, the Innocent Images National Initiative was started .…

The PBS program Now recently discussed child prostitution in the U.S. with Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who said:

It's one of those issues that doesn't get discussed and therefore there's an assumption that perhaps either it doesn't exist at all or the young women and girls who are prostitutes are there by their own free will … [The child prostitutes are] 10 or 11 years old, and the age is getting lower. We're not talking about 17 and 18 and 19-year-olds, although we could.

My friend Rev. Gabriel Salguero reminds us of the need for all of us to use our gifts to combat child exploitation. We must respond to the issue as a community where writers, musicians, politicians, business people, and the religious community use our collective resources to raise one voice to protect the children of our world. He challenges us not to see this issue in terms of nationality or geography but as an issue that calls into question our very sense of humanity.

Rev. Juan Carlos Morales is the senior pastor of Hosanna Assemblies of God in Ellenville, New York. He is also a member of the Latino Leadership Circle, a graduate of the Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME), and a seminarian at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. On Thursday, May 29, the Inocencia Project raised monies in its first public event and fundraiser. Inocencia Project was founded by Emanuel Veras to combat child prostitution in the Dominican Republic and around the world. Inocencia Project is a project of Cigua Palmera Foundation and is supported by Hiccup Media Group and through individual donations. To donate and learn more about Inocencia Project, go to www.ciguapalmera.org.

For more information about efforts to address this critical need, go to:

www.projectrescue.com
www.libertadlatina.org/cd/Site/organizationalpages/OC5b_childprostitution.htm
www.pbs.org/now/shows/422/index.html
www.fbi.gov/page2/dec05/innocence_lost_arrest3.htm
www.humantrafficking.org/countries/united_states_of_america