WHO WE ARE
Brazil's BR-116 highway is the worst road in the world for the sexual exploitation of children.
Along it's 2,700 miles, there are at least 272 places where children are known to be sold for sex, according to Federal Police surveys.
That's one place every ten miles.
In communities around the highway, a culture has grown up which sees abuse and exploitation as normal and acceptable, and where girls are pushed into prostitution at a young age.
The worst rate of child sexual exploitation is along a 300-km stretch spanning the poor north ofMinas Gerais state and the south of Bahia state, known as the 'child prostitution corridor'. This is where we have our projects.
BR-116 ON THE BBC
A SCANDAL ON A SCALE WE'D NEVER SEEN OR HEARD BEFORE, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
MATT ROPER,
HIGHWAY TO HELL
"When a trucker is finished the throws me out. Sometimes they let me me climb down, and sometimes they just kick me out onto the tarmac. It's a long way down."
Leilah, 11
When a trucker is finished he throws me out. Sometimes they let me me climb down, and sometimes they just kick me out onto the tarmac. It's a long way down.
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