John Vincent Obias
SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND FORCED PROSTITUTION, 2020
– Alcohol markers and colored pencil on watercolor paper
“I’m Seventeen and I’m new here today
The village I come from seems so far away
All of the girls know much more what to say
But I know, I have a heart like the sea
A million dreams are in me”
-Kim (MISS SAIGON)
Orphaned at 17, Kim was exploited and forced to work as a prostitute serving the G.I.s during the Vietnam War.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 revealed that 72% of all trafficking victims worldwide are women and girls, and that 4 out of 5 trafficked women and 3 out of 4 trafficked girls are trafficked for sexual exploitation.