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Description
For *KneelingGlory 's [link] (Not for Sale contest) (+ [link] (update)) under the digital art category.

Created entirely in GIMP 2.6.7 with gimp-painter on karmic. Used a [link] (texture) from ~MindClot

My area of focus for this contest is southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, where men, women and children are sold into slavery of various evils including begging, forced labour, and prostitution. a close church friend of ours was Cambodian and my husband is half Malaysian half Taiwanese, so this area of asia has particular significance. in my childhood and teenage years i was also deeply concerned by child/child sexual abuse (CA, CSA), so that also contributes to this piece.

The jewellery worn by this child is intended to be ironic, inspired by traditional Cambodian dress in reliefs of goddess-like women in Cambodian religion. This is intended to represent the inappropriate substitution of a child for an adult act. The child is also wearing an adult-sized shirt of common southeast Asian style.

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[link] (article for cambodia) from humantrafficking.org

"47 percent stated that their mother was the facilitator of their trafficking."

also see [link] (madebysurvivors.com) by The Emancipation Network. This page indicates many children are trafficked by their parents, often for far less than the slave trader receives later on. Don't like to quote too much but it also gives insight on how trafficking happens, to whom (everyone, including tourists, but mostly certain groups), and what the implications are. It also briefly outlines their long/short term plans to combat trafficking.

---

CSA was a bit of an obsession of mine from a legal and psychological perspective so I hope you don't mind if I go on a bit about it here.

CSA (and indeed trafficking in general) is often viewed as "little girls being snatched away by nasty old men" when usually it is far more personal and devastating than that. I don't want to make this all about CSA but one of the most common issues victims deal with is the guilt - yes, guilt! CSA is much more complex than "stay away from dangerous situations" - we are dealing with families, children, lives, suffering.

Often the child takes on the responsibility and the shame, either inadvertently or as a result of being deliberately conditioned by the adult. This molds their identity as they grow up, commonly the child identifies themselves as a prostitute (having the lowest value of all social classes, vermin, dirty, worthless etc).

When a trafficking racket is uncovered by the authorities, the children themselves may be arrested as illegal immigrants or prostitutes, with no way of defense. Making it more complex is that their family is the one who usually sold them, and the child may feel that their slavery was a result of their own decision out of love for their family; therefore believing not only that they deserve the slavery but that they ARE an illegal immigrant, etc. On top of that, the child will be missing their family terribly too. The analogy in CSA is that the abuser is usually a member of the family, and ensures secrecy by calling on the child's loyalty to the rest of the family, eg "If you tell X about this, you'll tear our family apart." Again the child comes to believe that the abuse is somehow a decision made by them and therefore the only fault is their own. Yet, paradoxically they also know and love the person who abused them.

There is nothing simple about CSA. Neither is there about trafficking. Though yes the parents are frequently at fault, we cannot simply write off the parents for selling their child because the rest of the family was starving. It's conceivable even the slave trader's family was starving. Everyone is suffering to various degrees. Blaming any particular person is not the solution.

-----

All that being said, psychology and the law is not the answer. We can analyse it until our witnesses and victims crumble, but nothing on this earth will permanently solve the evils of CSA or human trafficking. They said slavery was abolished, once, but we know now that was not true - rather it thrived in greater secrecy.

We must love people and help them to escape a cycle of human trafficking if we can. But I believe our best attempts cannot fully abolish slavery. If you and I are human, we'll both see and inflict suffering; and with it cruelty, slavery, violations of various human rights. Humanity, including you and i, we are evil. We cannot save ourselves. And you may disagree with me, but I will tell you that only Jesus can do that.

Description
For *KneelingGlory 's [link] (Not for Sale contest) (+ [link] (update)) under the digital art category.

Created entirely in GIMP 2.6.7 with gimp-painter on karmic. Used a [link] (texture) from ~MindClot

My area of focus for this contest is southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, where men, women and children are sold into slavery of various evils including begging, forced labour, and prostitution. a close church friend of ours was Cambodian and my husband is half Malaysian half Taiwanese, so this area of asia has particular significance. in my childhood and teenage years i was also deeply concerned by child/child sexual abuse (CA, CSA), so that also contributes to this piece.

The jewellery worn by this child is intended to be ironic, inspired by traditional Cambodian dress in reliefs of goddess-like women in Cambodian religion. This is intended to represent the inappropriate substitution of a child for an adult act. The child is also wearing an adult-sized shirt of common southeast Asian style.

---

[link] (article for cambodia) from humantrafficking.org

"47 percent stated that their mother was the facilitator of their trafficking."

also see [link] (madebysurvivors.com) by The Emancipation Network. This page indicates many children are trafficked by their parents, often for far less than the slave trader receives later on. Don't like to quote too much but it also gives insight on how trafficking happens, to whom (everyone, including tourists, but mostly certain groups), and what the implications are. It also briefly outlines their long/short term plans to combat trafficking.

---

CSA was a bit of an obsession of mine from a legal and psychological perspective so I hope you don't mind if I go on a bit about it here.

CSA (and indeed trafficking in general) is often viewed as "little girls being snatched away by nasty old men" when usually it is far more personal and devastating than that. I don't want to make this all about CSA but one of the most common issues victims deal with is the guilt - yes, guilt! CSA is much more complex than "stay away from dangerous situations" - we are dealing with families, children, lives, suffering.

Often the child takes on the responsibility and the shame, either inadvertently or as a result of being deliberately conditioned by the adult. This molds their identity as they grow up, commonly the child identifies themselves as a prostitute (having the lowest value of all social classes, vermin, dirty, worthless etc).

When a trafficking racket is uncovered by the authorities, the children themselves may be arrested as illegal immigrants or prostitutes, with no way of defense. Making it more complex is that their family is the one who usually sold them, and the child may feel that their slavery was a result of their own decision out of love for their family; therefore believing not only that they deserve the slavery but that they ARE an illegal immigrant, etc. On top of that, the child will be missing their family terribly too. The analogy in CSA is that the abuser is usually a member of the family, and ensures secrecy by calling on the child's loyalty to the rest of the family, eg "If you tell X about this, you'll tear our family apart." Again the child comes to believe that the abuse is somehow a decision made by them and therefore the only fault is their own. Yet, paradoxically they also know and love the person who abused them.

There is nothing simple about CSA. Neither is there about trafficking. Though yes the parents are frequently at fault, we cannot simply write off the parents for selling their child because the rest of the family was starving. It's conceivable even the slave trader's family was starving. Everyone is suffering to various degrees. Blaming any particular person is not the solution.

-----

All that being said, psychology and the law is not the answer. We can analyse it until our witnesses and victims crumble, but nothing on this earth will permanently solve the evils of CSA or human trafficking. They said slavery was abolished, once, but we know now that was not true - rather it thrived in greater secrecy.

We must love people and help them to escape a cycle of human trafficking if we can. But I believe our best attempts cannot fully abolish slavery. If you and I are human, we'll both see and inflict suffering; and with it cruelty, slavery, violations of various human rights. Humanity, including you and i, we are evil. We cannot save ourselves. And you may disagree with me, but I will tell you that only Jesus can do that.