There is no one country that is free from the dangers and dehumanization caused by sexual predators. They prey on every age group in every community. They do not wear a badge to identify themselves (although some wear fake ones to gain the trust of innocent children) and there is no uniform that makes them stand out.
The United Nations estimates that 200,000 women and girls have been raped in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the last 12 years, a disturbing fact that was highlighted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent visit to the African republic. One story that I came across was that of a 9-year old girl who was gang-raped on her on her way to school by Congolese soldiers. Her story was retold by a photographer that visited the country last year. Another girl, 15, was abducted by soldiers while she was shopping, held captive in a hole for five months and gang-raped almost every day.
These are just two stories of the atrocities that exist everywhere. In 2005, Dateline NBC went undercover with a human rights group to expose child sex trafficking in Cambodia. I watched the news report with my wife when it originally aired and I can still remember the sickening feeling it left in my stomach. This is a local, state, federal and global issue that can no longer be ignored
