Shared Hope International will launch a national sex-trafficking awareness campaign — "End Demand: Kids Are Not for Sale" — with a rally and candlelight vigil Friday in Las Vegas. The campaign kick-off coincides with the release of the latest findings on prostituted children in the United States.
The campaign aims to inform the public on sex trafficking with an emphasis on the prevalence in the United States.
"Nearly a decade ago, India and Nepal were my introduction into human trafficking and the sex trade," Linda Smith, founder and president of Shared Hope International, said in a statement. "I would soon find this horror stretches around the world.
"After five years of work in the field, I came into a new, perhaps even more awful truth: our investigative research showed this nightmare was happening in my own backyard with thousands of children sold each year. I knew I had to find a way to show America."
Every year, more than 100,000 girls are forced or lured into the world of prostitution, according to Shared Hope. Las Vegas often is the destination for trafficked children.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit the Shared Hope International Web site.
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