A human trafficking victim who was ' raped 43,000 times' by the age of 16 - after being groomed at age 12 - has turned her life around to help others.

Karla Jacinto, from Mexico, estimates she was forced to sleep with at least 30 men a day over four years as a young teenager.

She says she was first targeted at the age of 12 by a trafficker who prized her away from her dysfunctional family with gifts and money.

Karla was eventually taken to Guadalajara, one of Mexico's biggest cities, and forced to work as a
prostitute.

She was eventually rescued in 2008 as part of an anti-trafficking operation in Mexico City.

Now aged 24 - after years spent recovering from the deep emotional wounds and harrowing memories of sexual abuse - she has become a human rights activist.

Karla now travels the world giving help and advice to other victims of sexual slavery - even meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican to discuss the issue.

CNN reports that Karla is now in fact "not just surviving, she's thriving" as a human rights activist speaking out against modern-day slavery.

As she recounted her past and showed photos of her at age 12, Karla said:

"They would beat me with sticks, they would beat me with cables, they would beat me with chains.

"They forced me into prostitution at age 12."

"There were people who would laugh at me because I was crying. I had to close my eyes so I wouldn't see what they were doing to me."


MirrorUK adds that Karla claims that some of her attackers were "uniformed police officers" - as well as judges, priests and pastors.

"I thought they were disgusting," she said.

"They knew we were minors - we were not even developed. We had sad faces.

"Nowadays people are listening to me."