Sex slave industry to rival illegal drugs trade

The United States Senate has been told that the trafficking of women and children for sex is the biggest form of slavery in the world today and may come to rival the illegal drugs trade.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee heard that up to 2 million women worldwide were sold or lured into becoming sex slaves, with 50,000 of them arriving in the United States annually.

Officials told the committee that many of the women came from the Ukraine, Albania, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico and Nigeria.

They said that many governments and law enforcement agencies were not sensitive to the problem and that penalties were insufficient to deter traffickers.

© 2000 Australian Broadcasting Corporation