U.S. military and human trafficking

    

   
The U.S. military has been, and continues to be, one of the major driving forces behind human trafficking and sexual enslavement. Military bases abroad create huge new demand for sex workers. Whenever a military base is set up, it creates a new market for human trafficking--traffickers go where they can make money, and U.S. military bases have consistently been a profitable destination.
   
There have been military personnel directly involved in trafficking, as well as a large number who contribute to human trafficking through purchasing sex at brothels (which are overwhelmingly populated by trafficked women). To learn more, check out some of the articles below. I will try to write more on this topic later. But for now, here are the links and a few excerpts:
  
*Blackwater Employees Paid for Sex with Your Tax Dollars
*Iraq War Contractors Ordered to End Abuses
*Book: International Sex Trafficking of Women and Children

"U.S. military bases, especially in the South, replicate the sexual rest and recreation (R&R) areas that proliferate near military bases abroad...U.S. service men have also been involved in recruiting Asian women, especially from Korea, Vietnam, and Japan into the sex industry in the U.S. Often the servicemen marry prostituted women around military bases abroad, bring them to the US and pressure them into prostitution. A large number of foreign military wives become victims of domestic violence, displaced or homeless, and end up in prostitution around US military bases."

*Sex Trafficking High Around US Military Bases

 On paper, establishments that sell sex are off-limits for men (and women) in uniform. But in practice, sex trafficking flourishes near U.S. military bases. Should U.S. soldiers be abusing people in another country while protecting people in this one?

*Filipinas in Prostitution Around US Military Bases in Korea

During the stay of military forces in the Philippines, around 17,000 women have been prostituted in Olongapo City alone, which is site of the largest US military base outside the U.S. itself. The U.S. Navy ensured that the men are kept safe, thus funding for social hygiene clinics flooded the cities where the bases are located. If 25% or more of the women in an establishment are unregistered with the clinic, the establishment will be declared off-limits to U.S. servicemen until the women are registered. Guidelines, thus, were made available to the servicemen so that they know where to go. In sum, the construction and maintenance of prostitution is integral to the U.S. military's strategies for keeping the male soldiers content. This is obviously in collusion with local and foreign businesses that make profits from the "entertainment industry,' and local governments that similarly earn from the lucrative R & R business.