Recently Barack Obama visited the Cape Coast Castle in Ghana which was once a major center of the Transatlantic slave trade.  A plaque in the castle reads, “May humanity never again perpetrate such inhumanity against humanity.” Unfortunately, slavery does still exist and is thriving in Ghana.  A recent LA Times article describes this cycle of child slavery in Ghana.

There have also been recent reports of “baby harvesting” in Nigeria where poor teenage girls are lured into a situation where they are repeatedly raped until they become pregnant.  Once the baby is born it is sold.  You can read more about it here - Or not. I can barely stomach it.

Does child prostitution happen in America? Yes.  You can watch a story by Katie Couric about teenage prostitution in the US here and also read a recent blog post from Change. org about child trafficking in America.  The article discusses a recent congressional debate spurred by a report that victims of trafficking who are minors are often arrested rather than rescued.