The �Natashas� are part of a vast new underground economy � the trafficking of women and children. Groups like Amnesty International and UNICEF have been sounding the alarm about it for years. Now a new book by CTV reporter Victor Malarek � The Natashas: The New Global Sex Trade � paints a harrowing picture of this merchandising of human beings.
The numbers are staggering: 800,000 to 900,000 women and children a year are being trafficked, according to the U.S. State Department. UNICEF believes that the numbers for children alone could be as high as one million.
The money is also staggering � $12 billion a year, which means that humans have become almost as lucrative to traffic as drugs or weapons. It is very much a �win-win� type of business: the �exporter� can make several thousand dollars a head, with very little overhead, while the �owner� can usually make back his initial investment in a few days.
�Stan Hister/rabble Jan.05.04
