Human Trafficking--Oh, Hell NO!
- Estimated 12.3 million victims of human trafficking worldwide. U.S. Department of State, TIP Report 2010
- Approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims annually trafficked across international borders worldwide.
- Approximately 18,000 to 20,000 victims are trafficked annually into the United States.
- Approximately 100,000 children are estimated to be involved in the sex industry in the United States. Polaris Project 2011
- An estimated 27 million men, women and children are trafficked for commercial sex or forced labor around the world today.
- There are approximately 800,000 annual trafficking victims worldwide.
- 80% of them are women, 50% are children.
- 15,000 to 18,000, the estimated number of people trafficked in the United States each year.
- Most children are between the ages of 12 to 14 when they enter the commercial sex industry in the United States.
- There is estimated that there are 3 million runaways each year, and within 24 to 48 hours, 1/3 will be inducted, seduced, kidnapped, enticed with promises of fame, entertainment and music careers, but are abducted into prostitution, the sex industry and pornography!
Show Me the Money, I Will Show You the Motive!
- In 2005, the total annual revenue for trafficking in person were estimated at an annual profit of $31.6 billion.
- In 2013, the NHTRC Hotline received 31,945 calls;
- 2,241 from potential victims of trafficking
- 2,174 from potential victims of labor exploitation
- 44 were calls from Montana
- Potential Victims Referenced on Hotline: 7,702; 20% of calls reference actual trafficking situations.
What you have is a reusable source of income . . . with drugs, it is a one time deal; with commercial sex trade, within the first time a girl is inducted or kidnapped, she is turning tricks, up to 5 per day, even to start, with more experienced sex slaves, entering into deals with up to 25 sex partners in one day. One young girl, had 500 partners, in less than 4 months. The going rate is about $300 on average; therefore, the pimp, john, madame is making from $1500 to $7500 per day, per girl! And generally, the girls don't get to keep any of the money, their pimp controls all the money, basically looks at them as property, just like in the early days of slavery in the United States and around the world.
FEDERAL DEFINITION
Trafficking means recruiting, harboring, abducting, facilitating, transferring, or transporting a person, by threat or use of FORCE, COERCION, FRAUD or DECEPTION or by purchase, sale, trade, transfer or receipt of a person, for the purpose of subjecting that person to involuntary servitude, peonage, slavery, slave-like practices, sex trafficking, or forced or bonded labor services.
Charges involving children or minors need not prove force, coercion or fraud.
This applies to commercial sex (sex trafficking) or labor services (labor trafficking).
Myths & Reality
- Trafficking persons can only be foreign nationals or are only immigrants from other countries.
- Trafficking victims can be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals.
- Trafficking is a crime that must involve some form of travel, transportation, or movement across state or national borders.
- Transportation is not required.
- There must be elements of physical restraint or physical force, when identifying a human trafficking situation.
- Physical force or restraint is not required.
- If the trafficked person consented or was informed about what type of service they would be doing then it cannot be human trafficking or against their will because they "knew better."
- Initial consent is not required.
WHO ARE THEY?
VICTIM PROFILE
- Strangers, friends, family members or neighbors
- US citizens & foreign nationals
- Males & females
- Adults & minors
- Any race, ethnicity or socioeconomic background
- ANYONE CAN BE A VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING--Human trafficking is about VULNERABILITY!
TARGETED VULNERABLE GROUPS
- Runaway and homeless youth
- Victims of prior abuse or domestic & sexual violence
- Oppressed or marginalized populations
- Impoverished and indebted individuals
- Undocumented foreign nationals
- Displaced people (i.e., civil unrest, natural disaster, political instability)
VICTIM INDICATORS--YOUTH
- Under 18 and providing commercial sex act
- History of school truancy
- Homelessness & chronic runaway
- Claims to be an adult, but appears to be adolescent
- False ID/lying about true age
- Lives with multiple people not related to her/him
- Lack of freedom of movement
- Claims "just visiting" and cannot give address
- Signs of physical & emotional abuse
- Sign of untreated illness & injuries
- Branding or suspicious tattoos
- Rehearsed/inconsistent story
VICTIM INDICATORS--ADULTS
- No control of money or ID
- No or few personal possessions
- Lack of freedom of movement
- Frequent movement
- Claims "just visiting" and cannot give address
- No knowledge of community/whereabouts
- Signs of physical & emotional abuse
- Sign of untreated illness & injuries
- Branding or suspicious tattoos
- Rehearsed/inconsistent story
- Prior arrests/convictions for prostitution
- Involvement in drug/assault cases
- Hotel room keys
WHERE DOES TRAFFICKING HAPPEN? ANYWHERE!
TRAFFICKER PROFILE
- Stranger, friends, partners, family members or neighbors
- US citizens & foreign nationals
- Males & females
- Adults & Minors
- Any race, ethnicity or socioeconomic background
- ANYONE!
FREEDOM IN MONTANA: FIGHTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING AT HOME
Today, at the University of Montana, joined by a ton of law enforcement officers, from around the state, victim advocates from domestic violence and sexual assault services, community members, interfaith councils, college representatives, members of the FBI, assistant attorney general, task force members, and a few attorneys, we could have used a few more prosecutors--you need to be able to recognize commercial sex and labor crimes from your run of the mile prostitution . . . don't victimize enslaved individuals, to learn about human body trafficking, either by means of commercial sex or labor through enslavement.
The above information came from the presentations, excellent I might add, from Katharina Werner, Pathways Program Manager, YWCA Missoula; Guy Baker, Task Force Officer, MT Regional Violent Crime Task Force; Ole Olson, Assistant Attorney General, Montana Department of Justice, and a follow-up presentations by the members of the Missoula Task Force . . . staff from the University and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center, under the direction of new arrival to Missoula, Abraham Kim, Director of the Mansfield Center, the MC for the meeting, all did a fabulous job.
Thank You, all presenters, staff and audience for the information, the challenge, and the networking! Many good connections were facilitated, informed suggestions, and offers of help . . . if you want to get involved, all members of the community are needed, retired doctors, attorneys, health care providers, educators, community and neighborhood watches, anyone who cares, can contact the Members of the Missoula Task Force, through the YWCA or the Missoula Police Department.
What You Don't Know, You Don't Know!
This issue came to my attention, about 3 years ago, while I was in Salt Lake City, Utah, waiting for a hearing at the federal court, and had a few hours to kill, before going to court, noticed that my former employer, the Utah Attorney Generals Office and the US Department of Justice were co-sponsoring a seminar, for experts around the country on everything from domestic violence, sexual assault, and some, pioneers in the area of human trafficking, so I decided to check in and see what was up . . . I was under the assumption, as many, that was a problem around the world, but what in the hell, did we have to worry about it in Utah?
Now, I am not an uneducated member of the community, learning of these types of problems, that are very similar and connected in a lot of ways, to domestic violence and sexual assault, with many of the same victims of the one, or the other, ending up a victim of human trafficking, as well as minors who have, likewise been abused in one way or another. In my former life, as an assistant attorney general, working with the Utah Attorney Generals Office, staff attorney, for the Utah Prosecution Council, in the Criminal Enforcement Division . . . I was the one in the state who applied for a grant under the Violence Against Women Act, and co-wrote the domestic violence manual for cops and prosecutors, on domestic violence and sexual assault, while being gone for some time, at that time, 1996, human body trafficking was not even on our radar . . . so, needless to say, I was a bit shocked, that there was trafficking in Utah, but realized, that this issue, was where domestic violence and sexual assault were at 20 years ago!
So we don't have to reinvent the wheel, we need a village to tackle this problems, churches, hospitals, schools, colleges, neighborhood watches, observers on the Internet, that get something by accident or on purpose, propositions for sex, with what appears to be a minor, or someone unwilling, and of course, prosecutors, cops, victim advocates, and anyone who has a passion for this, like Diane Yaris, of Kalispell, and the Soroptimist Clubs, from around the country!
Hopefully, this small bit of information will get your attention, that there is a real problem out there, and it is real in every state, especially in big boom towns, oil, coal, and towns, with large populations of workers in growing industries, with little community infrastructures or time to adapt to the growth, these places are breeding grounds for drugs and human trafficking, with little law enforcement, community services, or help in place, and with a large transient population, coming and going, even between one state and the other, big time problems. We need tough legislation, public policy and educational campaigns . . . like your wife or girlfriend are going to find out! Whatever it take . . .
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