Innocence Atlanta is a campaign within the non-profit organization Meet Justice that is focused on exposing the sex slave industry and connecting like-minded organizations that can work together to eradicate child sex slavery and exploitation in Atlanta.
Why does Innocence Atlanta exist? We'll break it down for you.
First, check your watch and set an alarm to go off two minutes from now. As soon as your watch alarm sounds off, be assured that a child has just been sold as a sex slave.
Every two minutes a child will lose his/her innocence. The childhood that most of us hold so dear is an experience these unfortunate children cannot even fathom. Every two minutes a child will give up his/her reason to live, to love, to learn and it's all due to a rampant global virus known as the Human Trafficking Trade.
Victims -- in this case child sex slaves -- are literally forced into a lifestyle that will forever stymie the innocence of childhood. Wonder, hope, joy -- all will be taken away, and without choice, without compassion, without humanity. After all, child sex slaves are nothing more than products in the minds of the traffickers.
Children as young as seven years old are consistently victimized, manipulated, starved, drugged and threatened into a dark hopeless realm of forced labor. Sold into prostitution and beaten unmercifully, these small children are sometimes even transacted for money by their own parents.
Why does Innocence Atlanta exist? Because many of you reading this now do not even know about this facet of life, nonetheless that it takes place right here in the United States -- right here in Atlanta, Georgia.
The child sex trafficking trade runs rampant on a global scale, but is in no way confined to third world countries. It is most likely happening near your own backyard. Atlanta, Georgia is home to phrases like "child rape", "8 year old prostitution" and "cigarette burns on her back." Phrases that most would never think to hear nor utter are the reality of thousands of small children forced to sexually service up to 15 to 20 men/women a day in Atlanta, Georgia -- in our suburbs, cities, apartments and bars.
Innocence Atlanta understands the average American's ignorance towards the Child Sex Trafficking trade, especially in Atlanta, Georgia. That is why we fight everyday to raise awareness and to provide you the tools, knowledge and inspiration to help stop Child Sex Trafficking in Atlanta, in the United States and in the world.

Available statistics
Note: Due to the “hidden” nature of trafficking activities, gathering statistics on the magnitude of the problem is a complex and difficult task. The following statistics are the most accurate available, given these complexities, but may represent an underestimation of trafficking on a global and national scale.
"Each year an estimated 800,000- 900,000 human beings are bought, sold, or forced across the world's borders (2003 U.S. State Department estimate). Among them are hundreds of thousands of teenage girls, and others as young as 5, who fall victim to the sex trade. There's a special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most innocent and vulnerable. The victims of the sex trade see little of life before they see the very worst of life, an underground of brutality and lonely fear. Those who create these victims and profit from their suffering must be severely punished. Those who patronize this industry debase themselves and deepen the misery of others." - President Bush, addressing the U.N. General Assembly September 23, 2003
" 90 percent of runaways become a part of the commercial sex industry." - Estes and Weiner, "The commercial sexual exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico"
"Each year, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry." (U.S. Department of Justice. 2004. Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in Fiscal Year 2003. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)
"The largest number of people trafficked into the United States come from East Asia and the Pacific (5,000 to 7,000 victims). The next highest numbers come from Latin America and from Europe and Eurasia, with between 3,500 and 5,500 victims from each." (U.S. Departments of Justice, Health & Human Services, State, Labor, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. 2004. Assessment of U.S. Government Activities to Combat Trafficking in Persons. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice.)

From “Hidden In Plain View: 2005 Mayor’s Report” ( CSE= Child sexual exploitation CSEC= commercial child sexual exploitation ) - In ATL the most prevalent form of commercial sexual exploitation of girls appears to be prostitution. - Until 2001, the pimping of a minor in Georgia was classified as a misdemeanor payable by a $50 fine. - 90% of cases referred to CEASE (Center to End Adolescent Exploitation) in 2004 were identified as African American - Average age of CSE appears to be 14, but girls as young as 10 and 11 have been exploited - In 2003, there were more than 48,000 substantiated incidents of child abuse and neglect in Georgia - 88% of children who are sexually abused never disclose their abuse while they are still children. - It is estimated that 82% of child sexual abuse cases in Georgia involved family and extended family members o 75% were perpetrated by someone in the child’s immediate family (including the boyfriends of mothers who are single heads of households) o 37% by a birth parent o 22% by a sibling. - Research has found that a majority of girls and adult women engaged in prostitution were sexually abused as children (Sibert & Pines, 1981). - In 2000 Atlanta ranked number 1 in the percentage of children in extreme poverty - 90% of runaways become part of the sex trade industry - Approximately 1.7 million runaway/throwaway episodes occur every year in the U.S. - 1 out of 3 teens will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home - 23% of females in their study had experienced sexual victimization at least once when on the streets - the younger a girl is on the streets, the more likely she is to be victimized - In 2003, Juan Reyes Rojas, a Mexican national, pled guilty to two counts of human trafficking for smuggling two women (one of them a 16-year-old) from Mexico into Atlanta. Reyes forced the women to have sex with ten to twenty-five men a night. - There are approximately 4,000 strippers who work at the 40 adult clubs in the metro Atlanta area - There are prostitution-related activities around most public schools in Atlanta. - In 2004, the Fulton County Child Advocacy Center reviewed 863 cases, of which 88% were African American and 84% were girls “From http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=6216” - Last year (2006), Atlanta police arrested 35 pimps and 294 people suspected of prostitution, including 24 juveniles - Atlanta’s vice unit tracks more than 300 Web sites for escort services, and many of them offer girls for sex