It is always encouraging to know what other organizations throughout the United States are aiding to combat the global sex trafficking trade both abroad and local. Now NYC, an organization aiming for a trafficking free NYC is one such organization.

Sonia Ossorio -- president of Now-NYC since 2004 -- is just as adamant about abolishing sex slavery as we here at InnocenceAtlanta.org are, and like us, Sonia doesn't sugar coat the blatant horrors of this sprawling human plague.

In an article entitled "Voices of Now NYC: Aiming for a 'Trafficking Free NYC'", Sonia echoes the global lament of those who have witnessed child sex trafficking, have been trapped into the trade and of those who are trying to solve the problem.

She writes in the article that she knew a woman from South America that spent her first night in the Big Apple in a brothel overlooking Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. With a timer at her side, she "serviced" 19 men -- a veritable United Nations parade of taxi drivers to restaurant workers that literally queued up for a turn to have 15-minute sex sessions with the women at this brothel

At the beginning of each shift women are given a produce box topped with two rolls of paper towels, a bottle of lube, alcohol and a baggy filled with unwrapped condoms.

There are tips that go to the men who stand outside on the corners as dusk sets in. Business cards are passed out for the brothels -- they provide directions to the houses where sex can be bought; $30 for 15 minutes.

No matter how long we are exposed to the sex trafficking trade and no matter how many locations we see sex trafficking at, the shock of seeing and hearing the same common stories throughout the United States and the world will never digress.

The locations may be different, the ethnicities may be different, the languages may be different, the type of money may be different, but the one thing that never changes is the common themes. That is why people can read about child sex trafficking here and then read articles by Now-NYC and see the same basic patterns.

Sonia Ossorio holds nothing back when further demonstrating these commonalities -- Carmen endured long nights of anonymous men in the beginning, a method that is used the world over by pimps and traffickers (one in the same) to break down a woman's spirit, resolve and fight. Serial rape will do that to you.

After that, the threat of violence kept her in place coupled with a threatened smear campaign of her reputation back home. If she didn't stick it out, they'd drop the news in her town that she'd become a whore in the U.S.

We here at Innocence Atlanta are consistently lock-jawed when finding out how pimps/traffickers treat victims, threaten them and keep them in line.

Carmen's situation was just one certain kind. So often we will come across children as young as 12 that are told by their traffickers that, if they were to step up or run away, their entire family would be murdered.

Although the tactics are different, and disgustingly creative, they are all essentially the same concerning the end goal -- submission.

In the case of many young girls and boys that are going to be trafficked into the United States for prostitution, they are usually put through a "break in" period. This "break in" period will most likely occur in Mexico, the stop off point for myriads of victims coming into the United States as sex slaves.

In Mexico, the break in period begins. Young girls and boys are forced to service up to 15 to 20 men a day for barely any money. Of course, the victim never gets the money, the pimp does, but in the case of the "breaking in" period, it's all about breaking the girl's or boy's spirit.

When trafficked across the border into the states, the victims will be kept half-starved and consistently drugged so that they do not have the energy nor the will to escape due partly of physical fatigue and partly to mental incapacitation.

Perhaps one of the most wonderful pieces of information in this article is Sonia's passion and education concerning law enforcement.

DAs spend loads of money investigating scams and shakedown operations, but none for human trafficking. Cops hardly know what trafficking is.

When I asked two cops on the subway platform recently, they said trafficking is only a problem in New Jersey, it happens in NYC?

Although sex trafficking is become more well-known, the fact remains that it is considered a low profile by many local police agencies.

Now-Nyc has a program called "Ask a Cop" in which people are encouraged to query local police about human trafficking. This will help raise awareness. If individuals come across a police officer or precinct that is ignorant to the issue or does not consider it a high-priority, then issuing an informative pamphlet or some other form of information will aid in spreading the cause further and helping people take it seriously.

Cops with trained eyes may have made a difference for the many women part of a Mexican trafficking crime ring that operated for 13 long years between Tenancingo, Mexico and Queens.

Pregnancy is taken care of by forced abortions. Lives, hearts and minds are destroyed for profit.

Sonia also details just how in-your-face the child sex trafficking trade is by informing "A stroll through the Yellow Pages will find you knee-deep in prostitution ads, some showing children. There's one ad in the Manhattan book with the picture of a girl that can't be more than 10-years-old. Guess what the "escort service"is called -- Asian Flowers.

There are plenty of online and offline locations to witness and report child sex trafficking, or human trafficking in any way. Organizations like Innocence Atlanta and Now-NYC are fantastic resources available to help you, the reader, gain a better understanding of the ills affecting our world and how we can cure ourselves from them.

Written by: William Mac

See More From William Mac at This Week in Time

Original Story at Feministing