Commentary

and social workers and Julie and other girls were brought to the Preda Home for trafficked girl victims.

They were shocked at first at the abrupt arrest of their three traffickers who were taken away by the police and charged with human trafficking and put on trial. Julie and the other three children were brought to the Preda Foundation home. They were welcomed with respect and dignity and given personal needs and a nice bed and shower room and new clothes. They had never been treated with respect and their rights were explained to them and the opportunities to study, learn and have therapy to heal from all the abuse they had suffered since childhood.

They realized that for the first time in their lives, they were free of the abusive control of exploiting adults. They felt personal freedom and protected. They never had such freedom of choice before. They had medical treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and were cured.

Julie and the others with the guidance of the therapists, counselors and social workers accepted the opportunity to study, learn and have Emotional Release Therapy. There in the padded therapy room they cried and shouted out all the hurt pains and anger of their lives since childhood. After months of therapy and a happy life in the community where they felt fully accepted, respected and part of a family of twenty children like themselves, they felt stronger, self-confident and empowered.

They overcame the fear of their cruel parents and pimps and testified against them in court leading to convictions. They were free from the traffickers for the rest of their lives. Today they are stronger and learning a new livelihood so they can support themselves with a small business helped by the Preda Foundation. These are just a few of the 100,000 or so children trafficked into the sex business every year, according to Unicef. A shocking number of child laborers in the worst form of hazardous exploitation of children.

Working together with good people that are determined to end this child labor and with committed government officials that will implement the law, there is hope to greatly reduce the extent of the child labor and exploitation.