The other night, a few friends and I Netflixed a movie called Taken. I was surprised at how entertaining the film was despite its dark and gritty content.
Taken is an action-packed thriller about a father (played by Liam Neeson, who also provides the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia), who is desperately attempting to save his abducted daughter from the underground world of sex trafficking.

In the film, Kim, the daughter of Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, travels to Paris for a holiday with her friend. Upon arriving in the airport, the girls are targeted by sex traders and later kidnapped. Unfortunately for the sex traders, Kim’s father is an ex-government agent with all the skills necessary to track down the predators and make them pay for their crimes.

As I watched Taken, I quickly was wrapped up in the drama and suspense of the film, but the content matter might have meant a little more to me than the average viewer because during the past few years, I have had the opportunity to work with Christ In Youth as it has sent multiple mission teams to Cambodia to rescue girls from the slave trade. Despite the Hollywood ending in Taken, most girls are not the daughters of former secret agents, and they are not rescued by daddy within 48 hours. More likely, they are trapped forever in the dark world of human trafficking.

Regardless of my personal connections to the subject matter, I was so engrossed in the film because I repeatedly was impressed with how accurately Taken depicts many details of this evil business. In one scene, Taken appropriately displays the traders forcibly and routinely drugging the abducted girls.

This scene can be tough to watch but is painfully accurate. Decreasing the girls’ coherence makes it easier for sex traders to use them as prostitutes and in brothels without too much resistance. The tactic also builds up a drug dependency that the traders use to keep the girls in the brothel. The girls become so desperate for the drugs, that they will do anything to get them, including any sexual desires of paying clients.

Also in the film, we see the human traffickers targeting young women and girls who are naïve, ignorant and/or trusting. A sex trader earns the girls’ trust in the form of an attractive and friendly young man, who strikes up a conversation with the girls and later asks them if they would like to go to a party that evening, thereby securing their address.

In reality, traffickers routinely use a charming, friendly face to tell girls about great opportunities such as parties, work opportunities or family reunions. These, of course, are lies to con girls into going with them and later be forced into the sex trade.

The statistics are staggering and tragic. The U.S. State Department estimates that one million children are exploited each year in the global commercial sex trade (U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “The Facts about Child Sex Tourism” 2004). Human trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing criminal industry in the world after drugs. Total annual revenue for trafficking in persons is estimated to be between $5 billion-$9 billion.

Victims experience a loss of freedom and exploitation at the hands of the traffickers, who buy and sell them in pursuit of profit. They are incarcerated in brothels that are nothing but prisons. Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery.

Christians no longer can stand idly by as millions of children and women are abducted and abused for profit from sexual pleasure. We no longer can claim ignorance as an excuse for doing nothing. I was excited when watching Taken because of the awareness and knowledge it might lend to people who are ready and willing to do something to combat the sex trade industry.

Christians Provide Hope and Healing
Efforts to stop this injustice are making progress. Christ In Youth partners with a ministry organization called Rapha House. The Hebrew word for “healing” is rapha, which is exactly what the girls at Rapha House receive.

Even if girls are rescued from the sex trade, they often find themselves back in it again after a few months. This is because having spent the majority of their lives forced into prostitution, they have no other practical skills or trades with which they can earn a living. Rapha House provides a safe haven to harbor the girls and teach them valuable life skills they can use so they can make a living without resorting to prostitution.

Instead of being a statistic, each girl is seen as an individual with hopes, dreams and potential to make a huge impact in the world. Tragedy plays a part in each girl’s story, but that’s not where the story ends. These girls are finding hope in place of heartbreak, healing in place of pain and freedom in place of captivity.

Since January 2008, CIY has taken nine teams to Cambodia to partner alongside Rapha House and spread Jesus’ love to some of the darkest corners of this world. This is exciting because not only are these teams changing broken hearts and lives for Jesus, but they also are breaking the mold of what a mission trip looks like. The church needs to get away from the idea of missions only being about building houses, serving soup and playing with orphans. The world can be ugly and violent. It’s exciting that the church is beginning to address such frightening issues, even if they aren’t safe and family-friendly.

As affluent, suburban Americans, it’s easy to forget the rest of the world doesn’t have many of the freedoms we take for granted. As Christians, we need to be disturbed about the issue of human trafficking and the sexual trends of our culture. With the fairly recent success of Taken, perhaps people will become more aware of the real problems in the world regarding human trafficking and the millions of women and children being forced into the industry.

Worldwide, many moral standards have deteriorated and the byproduct is a sexually charged society seeking pleasure through pornography, rape, incest and the sexual exploitation of children—all easily accessed via modern technology. It is an injustice to turn a blind eye to the helpless people who are being exploited even if it’s in a foreign country. We have to advocate against human trafficking by educating others and praying the oppressed will be set free. We must be the hands that help break the chains of injustice.