The Advocates for Human Rights:
Sex Trafficking in Minnesota
Beatríz R. Menanteau, Esq.
Staff Attorney
About The Advocates for Human Rights
Founded in 1983, The Advocates for Human
Rights is a non-governmental, 501(c)(3)
organization dedicated to the promotion
and protection of internationally recognized
human rights locally, nationally, and
internationally.
The Advocates promotes human rights and
reforms cultural and political structures that
oppress human dignity.
The Advocates for Human Rights
Programs include:
•
Women’s Human Rights
•
Refugee and Immigrant Rights
•
International Justice
•
Human Rights Education
The Women’s Human Rights Program
Women’s Human Rights Program focuses on
addressing violence against women.
Violence against women is the most prevalent
and least punished crime in the world. It is
also a grave threat to health and well-being.
-- U.N. statement, 25 November 2008
Violence against women takes many
forms, including:
-
Domestic violence
Human trafficking
Sexual assault
Sexual harassment
-
Forced and early marriages
Female genital mutilation
Honor killings
Dowry-related violence
Rape as a weapon of war
Female infanticide
Enforced sterilization
Human trafficking includes both sex trafficking
and labor trafficking and is the second
largest – and fastest growing –
criminal industry in the world.
In 2008, traffickers made $31 billion buying and
selling humans. Different sources
estimate this figure to be as high as $32
billion.
From: United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking; Polaris Project;
and University of Iowa Center for Human Rights.
What did The Advocates for
Human Rights do?
Published in 2008
Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for
the State of Minnesota
Interviewed 175 individuals, including
Law Enforcement Officers, Judges,
Prosecutors, & Service Providers
Used a human rights framework
Detailed more than two dozen
findings and recommendations.
Free download at:
www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org
Sex Trafficking in Minnesota
“Sex trafficking is a form of slavery and
involuntary servitude resulting in grave
human rights violations.
Sex trafficking is not new to Minnesota nor is it
confined to the Twin Cities metropolitan
area; it affects communities throughout the
state.”
From: Sex Trafficking Needs Assessment for the State of Minnesota,
The Advocates for Human Rights, October 2008
Sex Trafficking Victims in Minnesota:
Who Are They and How Many Are There?
What is the scope of human trafficking?
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Office of Justice Programs
published reports in
2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010.
http://www.ojp.state.mn.us/cj/httf/about.htm
OJP 2008 report:
Total Human Trafficking Victims in MN 2008 =
314
i. Sex Trafficking victims
a) 2008: 275 sex trafficking victims
b) Past 3 years: 731 sex trafficking victims
ii. Labor Trafficking victims
a) 2008: 39 labor trafficking victims
b) Past 3 years: 93 labor trafficking victims
OJP 2010 Report:
•
•
•
67% of service providers respondents indicated they
had served a victim of human trafficking in 2009
• (48% in 2008)
18 % of law enforcement respondents indicated they
had a trafficking arrest or investigation
• (14% in 2008)
Service provider respondents reported working with a
total of 450 human trafficking victims in 2009 at the
time of the survey:
• 370 sex trafficking victims
• 80 labor trafficking victims
What other statistics do we know?
•
8-12,000 people are involved in sex
trafficking and prostitution in Minnesota
every day.
•
The International Labor Organization (ILO)
estimates that there are at least 12.3 million
adults and children in forced labor, bonded
labor, and commercial sexual servitude at
any given time.
From: “Buying Sex Stops Here,” ANESEM, http://www.mcbw.org/anesem;
U.S. State Department, Trafficking in Persons Report (2009)
Vulnerable Juveniles
•
•
The average age of entry into prostitution is
12-14.
Study in North Minneapolis - 53% of
individuals in prostitution reported first
trading or selling sex before the age of 18.
* Lauren Martin, North Minneapolis Prostitution Research (2007) (unpublished data collected at
Folwell Center for Urban Initiatives) (summary on file with author).
•
From February to August 2010, Minnesota
showed a 55% increase on juvenile girls
trafficked through internet classified and
escort services. * Schapiro Group study, Women’s Funding Network, 2010.
Sex trafficking is not limited to
cases involving:
•
•
•
•
Foreign nationals, but includes U.S. citizens
and legal permanent residents;
Force, fraud, or coercion, but includes cases
involving a variety of means of recruitment
and enticement;
Transportation or movement across a border,
but may occur within a city, county, state, or
country;
Sexual exploitation, but may overlap or
intersect with human smuggling and/or labor
trafficking cases.
Trafficking examples~
•
Blaine - A man met two 16 year old girls on-line, had
sex with them, advertised on-line photos of them,
gave them drugs, and then had them have sex for
money with “customers” in a nice townhouse in a
quiet Blaine neighborhood - March 2010.
•
Somali gang linked to prostitution ring - September
2010.
•
Minnesota “Nice Guys” Case.
•
Girl on Craigslist with “boyfriend” who schedules her
dates, drives her there, and takes a percentage of her
money.
•
Woman on the street who pays a pimp.
How is sex trafficking defined in the law?
Handout: Sex Trafficking Fact Sheet
Three definitions:
• United Nations Optional Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
(2003)
• United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act
(passed in 2000, reauthorized in 2003, 2005, and 2008)
• State Laws on Trafficking
Federal Law
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act
(TVPA):
Passed on October 28, 2000
Reauthorized in 2003, 2005, and 2008
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA):
“Whoever knowingly…recruits, entices, harbors,
transports, provides, or obtains by any means a person;
or
benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from
participation in a venture which has engaged in an act
described in violation of (1),
Knowing that force, fraud or coercion…will be used to
cause the person to engage in a commercial sex act,
or
that the person has not attained the age of 18 years and
will be caused to engage in a commercial sex act.”
18 U.S.C. § 1591(2008).
The term “commercial sex act” means any
sex act on account of which anything
of value is given to or received
by any person.
22 U.S.C. § 7102(3)(2008).
Minnesota Law
Passed in 2005
Amended in 2009
Minnesota law defines “sex trafficking” as:
The “receiving, recruiting, enticing, harboring,
providing, or obtaining by any means an individual to
aid in the prostitution of the individual” or “receiving
profit or anything of value, knowing or having reason to
know it is derived from [sex trafficking].” M.S. §
609.321, subd. 7a(2009).
Minnesota punishes sex trafficking with a maximum of
15 years for an adult, 20 years for an individual under
18, and 25 years where an aggravating factor is
involved. M.S. § 609.322 (2009).
The words “by any means” indicate that an
individual may not consent to sex
trafficking. It takes the focus away from the
victim’s actions and places it on the
trafficker’s actions.
Consent or mistake as to age shall not be a
defense to prosecutions under section
609.322 or 609.324. M.S. § 609.325, subd. 2
(2008).
The term “prostitution” means engaging or
offering or agreeing to engage for hire in
sexual penetration or sexual contact. M.S. §
609.321, subd. 9 (2008).
Sex trafficking and pimping are a part
of the same continuum of
criminal activity:
The sexual exploitation of
women and girls.
Is it a Choice?
•
•
•
Average age of entry into prostitution =
12 to 14 years old
92% of individuals in prostitution reported that
they wanted to leave prostitution.
Remember, MN sex trafficking law focuses on the
actions of the trafficker/pimp not on how the
individual being trafficked entered into the
situation.
U.N. Definition
Federal Definition
Minnesota Definition
Statutory
Authority
U.N. Trafficking Protocol
18 U.S.C. § 1591: 22 U.S.C. §
7102(9)
M.S. § 609.321; 609.322;
609.325
Key Elements
Compared
Force, Fraud or Coercion for
Adults
Force, Fraud or Coercion for
Adults
No Force, Fraud or Coercion
for Adults
No Force, Fraud or Coercion
for Children
No Force, Fraud or Coercion
for Children
No Force, Fraud or Coercion
for Children
Abuse of power or of a position
of vulnerability or of the giving
or receiving of payments or
benefits to achieve the consent
of a person having control over
another person
No corollary
No one may consent to being
trafficked
Recruiting, Harboring,
Receiving
Recruiting, Harboring,
Receiving but also Enticing,
Obtaining, Providing,
Transporting
Recruiting, Harboring,
Receiving but also Enticing,
Obtaining, Providing, but not
Transporting
Commercial Sex Act
Prostitution, but not broader
definition of Sexual Exploitation
Benefits, financially or by
receiving anything of value,
from participation in a venture
Receiving profit or anything
of value, knowing or having
reason to know, it is derived
from sex trafficking
Exploitation, including
Sexual Exploitation
The broadest definition in each category is bolded.
What are the pros and cons of the laws?
•
Unlike federal sex trafficking law, Minnesota law
recognizes that a person can never consent to being
sexually exploited and considers individuals who
have been prostituted “by any means” as a
trafficking victim.
•
Minnesota law, however, excludes some victims of
commercial sexual exploitation, such as those
exploited in stripping, by limiting the definition of
sex trafficking to include only sexual contact or
sexual penetration.
Legislative Efforts
•
2009 Amendments
•
2011 Legislative Initiative
2009 Amendments to Minnesota Law on
Sex Trafficking
•
Increase fines and penalties for traffickers;
•
Criminalize the actions of those individuals who
receive profit from sex trafficking;
•
Categorize sex trafficking with other “crimes of
violence” to ensure that those who sell others for
sex are prohibited from possessing firearms; and
•
Add sex trafficking victims to those victims of
“violent crime” who are protected from employer
retaliation if they participate in criminal proceedings
against their traffickers.
2011 Safe Harbors Legislative Initiative
Despite many protections, under Minnesota law
children who are victims of commercial sexual
exploitation can still be treated as criminals or
juvenile delinquents:
•
M.S. § 609.324 penalizes juveniles who engage in
prostitution
•
M.S. § 260C.141, subd. 6 - petition may be filed as
both a delinquency and child protection matter.
•
Most agree that children who are being
commercially sexually exploited are victims.
•
Treating children who are being prostituted
like criminals is not the way to solve the
problem and help the victims. They need
services, not a criminal record.
BUT, the law doesn’t match the policy.
We want the law to match the policy. Direct
youth who are being commercially sexually
exploited into services instead of into jail.
Importance of Legal Reform
We must make the statement that Minnesota
has taken affirmative and collaborative
action to establish that the selling and
buying of humans for sex is not acceptable.
We want our laws to effectively protect victims
and hold perpetrators accountable.
Change our practice. Change our systems.
Change our cultural environment.
Questions?
Contact Us:
Beatríz R. Menanteau, Esq.
The Advocates for Human Rights
Third Avenue South #1240
Minneapolis, MN 55402
Tel: (612) 341-3302 x113
bmenanteau@advrights.org
www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org
www.stopvaw.org