HUMAN TRAFFICKING

PRAY. SHARE. BE AWARE.

www.befree58.org

BE FREE

WHO ARE WE?

WHERE DID WE START?

WHAT IS OUR FOCUS?

SEX & MONEY FILM

http://sexandmoneyfilm.com/

WHAT IS

HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING?

Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of monetary gain through slavery . sexual exploitation . or forced labor

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery.

Human Sex Trafficking is the recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for a commercial sex act that is induced by force, fraud, or coercion

When the person induced to perform such an act is under 18 years of age, no force, fraud, or coercion is necessary

Commercial sexual exploitations include: Forced prostitution, pornography, stripping, live-sex shows, mail-order brides, military prostitution, sex tourism, internet & phone sex, brothels, escort agencies,

Craigslist.

Victims of sex trafficking can be women, men, girls or boys, but the majority are women and girls.

Human Trafficking Statistics.

70% -- Percent of female victims who are trafficked into the commercial sex industry

30% -- Percent of female victims are victims of forced labor

80% -- Percent of trafficked victims are women and girls

50% -- Percent of trafficked victims are children (under the age of 18)

FORCE . FRAUD .

& COERCION .

Traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to control their victims.

Force

• Beating and slapping

• Beating with objects (bat, tools, chains, belts, hangers, canes, cords)

• Burning

• Sexual assault

• Rape and gang rape

• Confinement and physical restraint

Fraud

•False promises

• Deceitful enticing and affectionate behavior

• Lying about working conditions

• Lying about the promise of a better life

Coercion

• Threats of serious harm or restraint

• Intimidation and humiliation

• Creating a climate of fear

• Intense manipulation

• Emotional abuse

• Creating dependency and fear of independence

Myths & Misconceptions.

Trafficking victims have to be foreign nationals

Trafficking victims must be kidnapped and/or restrained physically

Trafficking requires an international or state or Tribal border crossing

If victim consented prior to abuse OR was paid, then it is not trafficking

SCOPE OF PROBLEM.

Average age of girls in prostitution in MN 14 years old

Ironically, the price of a sexual acts is equivalent to that of Meth and Crack.

The majority involved in prostitution in Minneapolis are Native American girls and women.

A sexually trafficked victim is worth: $400,000 a year

Human Sex Trafficking is the 2nd largest multi billion dollar industry in the world.

DEFINITIONS.

*Use the terms “in prostitution,” “involved in prostitution,” and

“prostituted” rather than “prostitute” because its unreasonable to assign a label to an exploited person that implies that she is responsible for her own exploitation.

*The term “sex worker” is used by some as an alternative to the term “prostitute,” please choose not to, because it frames prostitution as an acceptable form of work rather than a form of sexual violence.

*The term “survival sex” to describe the exchange of sex for money and other considerations such as food, shelter, transportation, or safety by women and girls who do not think of themselves as involved in prostitution but rather, as doing “what they have to do” to survive.

(FROM Trafficking in Indian Country - Presented by Lisa Brunner, E.D.

Sacred Spirits First Nations Coalition White Earth Ojibwe Nation, MN

Facilitated by Gwendolyn Packard, Program Specialist National

Indigenous Women’s Resource Center)

DEFINITIONS CONT.

*Use the term “sex trade” to describe the “business” of commercial sexual exploitation, all transactions in which sexual activity is exchanged for food, shelter, drugs, transportation, approval, money, or safety.

*We do not suggest that women and girls who are sold, traded, or purchased for sexual purposes are trading fairly in a free market system.

*Similar to the slave trade, women and girls in the sex trade are being exploited in exchange for their survival and/or the benefit of a more powerful person.

(FROM Trafficking in Indian Country - Presented by Lisa Brunner, E.D.

Sacred Spirits First Nations Coalition White Earth Ojibwe Nation, MN

Facilitated by Gwendolyn Packard, Program Specialist National

Indigenous Women’s Resource Center)

THE SEX TRADE INCLUDES:

Street prostitution

Escort agencies, Massage parlors

Brothels, “trick pads” and “sex party houses”

Bars and clubs that sell “lap dances” and “private dances”

Businesses that organize and sell “private parties” with strippers and nude dancers

Strip clubs

Pornography and live “sex shows”

Phone and Internet sex

Truck stops

AVERAGE AGE OF ENTRY

INTO THE SEX INDUSTRY:

12 YEARS OLD

MSNBC – Human Trafficking

MSNBC – Child Trafficking (25 mins.)

BACKPAGE - Trafficking

WHO ARE THE

VULNERABLE?

Who is at risk of becoming a victim of human trafficking?

rich or poor, men or women, adults or children, and foreign nationals or U.S. citizens, everyone is at risk for being trafficked. However, traffickers typically prey on individuals who are vulnerable in some way because they are easier to recruit and control.

Do victims of trafficking self-identify as a victim of a crime and ask for help immediately?

Often no. Victims of trafficking often do not see themselves as victims and seek help immediately, due to lack of trust, self-blame, or training by traffickers.

Why does vulnerability matter?

It matters because women and girls in prostitution suffer extremely high rates of violence and trauma, and these experiences make it very difficult for them to ever return to a healthy lifestyle.

Contributing factors:

Runaway-Throw Away

Poverty

Homelessness

Violence in home

Child sexual abuse, domestic violence, child abuse & neglect.

Sex traffickers use a variety of methods to

“condition” their victims:

Starvation, confinement, beatings, physical abuse, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and victims family, forced drug use or threat to shame them by telling family of their activities.

Victims face numerous health risk: drug & alcohol addiction, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, broken bones, internal injuries, sexually transmitted infections & diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

Victims may also suffer from traumatic bonding-a form of coercive control in which the perpetrator instills in the victim fear as well as gratitude for being allowed to live.

WHERE DO

TRAFFICKERS / PIMPS

FIND THEIR VICTIMS?

Truck Stops

Arcades

Theaters

Parties

Internet/ Facebook

Concerts

Tourist events – Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Are pimps managers who offer protection to women and girls in the sex industry and

split the money earned through commercial sex acts? No. Contrary to common perceptions, pimps do not offer protection, and they are not benevolent managers.

Instead, pimps usually take all of the money and typically establish nightly monetary quotas that women and children are forced to earn in order to avoid violent repercussions. Pimps even “brand” those under their control with tattoos of their name to demonstrate ownership.

TRUCK STOPS.

“Victims of pimp-controlled sex trafficking are commonly forced to meet quotas of $500 to

$1,000 a night. Victims working a truck stop typically earn $5 - $100 per sex act. All earnings are confiscated by the pimp.”

Polaris Project

WHO ARE

TRAFFICKERS / PIMPS ?

MEN

WOMEN

PARENTS

FRIENDS

FAMILY MEMBERS

METHODS OF PIMPING.

Finesse Pimping

Putting vulnerable girls in a position where they felt obligated to repay the trafficker by encouraging her to move in, taking care of her basic needs, purchasing small gifts, providing free drugs, and generally treat her with great kindness.

The next step is to present her with “opportunities” for a lucrative “modeling” career working for an escort service which she later found was prostitution and source of income for the pimp.

Guerilla Pimping

Similar description of violent gang and prostitution ring tactics was recruitment by force:

Using threat, Physical violence, Intimidation against the girl or against someone she cares about to coerce her into prostitution

Women also play multiple roles: pimps, recruiters, groomers, watchers who made sure girls got to and from their assigned locations, and wife-in-laws (other women trafficked by the same pimp) living together and supervised by the pimp or the woman closest to him.

IS THIS HAPPENING IN

SOUTH DAKOTA?

YES!

STURGIS MOTORCYCLE RALLY

Hunting Season

Reservations

Tea Case Brandon Thompson Prosecution

Tajhan Kahlil Clinton

Are we taking responsibility?

Native Gangs

Trafficking Native Girls

More recent U.S. studies suggest that gangs are playing an increasingly large role in the sex trafficking of American Indian girls and women.

Gang Initiation - A Native male Latin King member describing a girls’ initiation into his gang.

“When you get a girlfriend, she gotta be gang raped. She’s gotta go around and get boned by all of us guys. All of us Kings...We meet girls and stuff at pow-wows and they hang around with us and then they get the idea that we wanna go out with them, but we really don’t.

And then they just bring it up. ‘Is it all right if we roll with you? Make us a

Queen or something?’ Then we’re like, ‘Yeah, we’ll make you a

Queen.’ Then we’ll take them back to our house...Everybody on the rez has got their cellular phones or their pagers. Then we’ll each get a page and we’ll go call somebody and say, ‘Hey, there’s gonna be an initiation’...You take them in your bedroom or on the couch. In the back or down in the basement. Wherever. Then whenever they’re done, they’ll come out. Then whoever is next, they’ll take. She stays in the bedroom. She can’t come out and then whoever got done with her will come back out and say ‘Hey, whoever’s next, go ahead.’”

Recommendations.

Re-frame the issue, stop criminalizing the victims.

Increase access to culturally appropriate housing and holistic care for victims.

Build community support through honest dialogue.

Hold perpetrators accountable.

Systems change to increase penalties for perpetrators and bring resources into victims.

Raise awareness across domains.

Who are the persons we serve at Be Free?

Survivors of sexual exploitation and trafficking

Native American women and teens

Women in reentry from incarceration

Vulnerable women and teens experiencing a life crisis…abuse, homelessness, trauma, neglect, addictions

Persons seeking healing and restoration

Front-line service providers, educators, community organizations, faith communities and concerned citizens – networking and providing training and awareness education

WHAT IS OUR

FOCUS?

COMMUNITY AWARENESS!

Law enforcement. Social service agencies. Churches. Hospitals. Schools.

Why not street outreach?

What about the victims?

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Join the cause...become a justice Activist

Support frontline anti-trafficking organizations

Promote social awareness and educate the public and your own community

Provide services to survivors

Empower women and children

Think about the language you use around this issue.

Hold the media accountable.

Let your elected officials know this is something you care about.

Understand the socio-economic dynamics that increase risk factors and how state and local policies influence them.

Know where you spend your money and whether or not it is supporting exploitation.

Donate time and resources to help.

Resources Contributed to

Power Point Presentation.

Rescue and Restore

Victims of Human Trafficking, U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services.

National Institute of Justice

Department of Justice Statistics

Polaris Project

Shattered Hearts

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of American Indian Women and

Girls in Minnesota (Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center 2009)

MIIGWECH!!! (Thank you)

QUESTIONS?

HOW TO KEEP YOURSELF SAFE

INTERNET & PUBLIC SAFETY

PRIVACY SETTINGS – Be sure your Facebook page is set to

PRIVATE.

NEVER post on your status that you are alone.

ALWAYS be sure you know the person you are adding as a friend to your Facebook page.

Your pictures are on the internet forever. Traffickers or pimps look for images that might say to them “this person is willing to do anything”. Posting images that may not be respectful to yourself or others can cause a lot of damage.

When in a public setting such as the mall, never tell a stranger your name or that you are there alone. Always travel in groups and be in communication with your parent or guardian as to where you are at all times.

PREDATORS

GROOMING

ALICIA’S STORY – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=play er_embedded&v=hR0bXZrIErE

SOCIAL NETWORKING – SETTING BOUNDRIES http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=play er_embedded&v=1O2O_Gw1AwY

SETTING BOUNDERIES

CYBER BULLYING

CYBER BULLYING.

When a child, preteen or teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and digital technologies or mobile phones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_e mbedded&v=0iwWxGNAMr0# !

Value. Self worth. Brokenness. Vulnerable. Seeking love.

PORNOGRAPHY

PORNOGRAPHY.

Pornography can have a range of damaging effects on human beings of all ages and both sexes, affecting their happiness, their health, their body image, their relationships with one another, and their functioning in society. Hear clinicians and teens themselves talking about pornography's impact.

Women, children & men participating in pornography are often times VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

Protect yourself from the damaging images and false ideas of relationships that pornography promotes. Let us also remember and value the lives of victims in the pornography industry.