Human Trafficking:
Modern Day Slavery
Ignatian Teach-In
Washington, DC
November 17, 2013
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Presentation Overview
General exploration of the issue
Who are the victims? Who are the traffickers?
Federal and State Legislation
What Can You Do? How to respond.
Collaborative to End Human Trafficking
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Human Trafficking
is a form of
modern-day
slavery
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
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Not a new problem –
13th Amendment “neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude…shall exist in the United States”
Slavery - people held or compelled into
service against their will
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
Victims of trafficking are exploited for
commercial sex or labor purposes
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
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PBS Map on Trafficking Patterns
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
Next to drug
dealing, human
trafficking is the
second largest
criminal industry
in the world,
and it is the
fastest growing.
Inside Bay Area
The Oakland Tribune
Dealers turning to sex business
Pimping provided many with inconspicuous way to make money in streets
By Barbara Grady, STAFF WRITER
Posted: 04/24/2008 02:42:15 AM PDT
Updated: 04/22/2009 06:47:53 AM PDT
OAKLAND – When selling crack cocaine became a tougher way to make money at the beginning of the
decade because of increased police pressure, many drug dealers turned to pimping instead.
By selling young girls for sex, street hustlers were less likely to get caught. They didn't have to carry the
commodity in their pocket or stash it in their homes, as they usually did with crack cocaine. They could
use cell phones and laptop connections to the Internet to conduct business with customers while
simply posing as boyfriends walking down the street with their girls….
""There is increased economic incentive promoting young men to become involved in pimping," the report
said. "The lure of what is perceived as easy money is supported by easy access to a never ending
supply of runaway, AWOL and throwaway youth — youth who are highly vulnerable, who have no way
to meet their basic needs of food, shelter and human connection and who are invisible to society at
large." …
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Human Trafficking is…
Recruitment
Harboring
Transportation
Provision or
Obtaining of a person…
for a Commercial Sex Act or
Labor or Services…
through Force, Fraud or Coercion.
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Sex Trafficking:
Commercial sex act
induced by force,
fraud or coercion,
or
in which person
performing the act
is under age 18.
Victims can be found working in massage
parlors, brothels, strip clubs, and escort
services.
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Labor Trafficking:
Using force, fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor,
transport, obtain or employ a person for labor or services
in involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or
slavery
Victims can be found in domestic situations as
nannies, hotel maids, sweatshop factories,
janitorial jobs, construction sites, farm work,
and restaurants.
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
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US: Lawsuit accuses
Connecticut nursery of human
trafficking
by John Christoffersen
February 8th, 2007
Associated Press
A dozen Guatemalan workers filed a
federal lawsuit Thursday accusing one
of the nation's largest nurseries of
engaging in human trafficking by
forcing them to work nearly 80 hours
per week, paying them less than
minimum wage and denying them
medical care for injuries on the job…
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Labor Trafficking
United States v. Calimlim (7th Cir. 2008)
2 physicians, live-in housekeeper for 19 years
United States v. Sabhnani (2nd Cir. 2010)
Long Island couple, 2 domestic servants
United States v. Bradley (1st Circuit 2004)
NH tree removal company - Jamaican workers
United States v. Djoumessi (6th Cir, 2008)
14 year old domestic servant – Detroit
United States v. Farrell (8th Cir. 2009)
SDakota Comfort Inn- Jamaican housekeepers
United States v. Kaufman (10th Cir.2008)
Social worker and wife – unlicensed group home for mentally ill
Crime of trafficking occurs with the
exploitation of the victim.
The physical movement of the victim
is not a requisite.
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
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How Are Victims Trafficked?
Force, fraud and coercion
are methods used by traffickers to press
victims into lives of servitude and abuse.
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US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
How Are Victims Trafficked?
FORCE:
Rape,
beatings,
constraint,
confinement,
addiction to drugs
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
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How Are Victims Trafficked?
Fraud: Includes
false and
deceptive offers
of employment
or a better life
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How Are Victims Trafficked?
Coercion:
Threats of serious harm to,
or physical restraint of, any person;
•
•
any scheme, plan or pattern
intended to cause victims to
believe that failure to perform an
act would result in restraint
against them; or
the abuse or threatened abuse of
the legal process.
•
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Human Trafficking:
Who Are Victims?
Approximately 800,000 to
900,000 victims annually
trafficked across
international borders.
PBS Map on Trafficking Patterns
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US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
Between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are
trafficked into the United States annually.
The Columbus Dispatch
Prison term for human-trafficking
Woman from Dublin gets one year for role with hotel cleaners
Saturday, December 18, 2010
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Maria Terechina pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud
the U.S. and conduct human trafficking.
Federal prosecutors said that Maria Terechina was a
criminal who helped trick hundreds of eastern European women into taking
hotel jobs in Ohio that they couldn't escape because she took their passports
and controlled where they lived and how they got around…
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/18/prison-term-for-human-trafficking.html?sid=101
More than half of victims
trafficked
into United States
are thought to be
Children.
Victims are probably about
equally women and men.
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US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
Victims can be trafficked into the U.S. from anywhere.
Victims have come from, among other places,
Africa, Asia, India, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia
and Canada.
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Source: John Hopkins University, the Protection Project
Many victims are also US citizens
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Responses of Victims
• In the U.S., both citizens and non-citizens are victims
• Victims comply and don’t seek help because of FEAR
• Many victims do not speak English
• Victims often kept isolated; activities restricted;
guarded; coached to provide certain answers
• Unaware what is being done to them is a crime
• Do not consider themselves victims – often blame self
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US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
Who is at-risk to be trafficked?
• Children
• Vulnerable women
• Homeless,
runaways
• Immigrants
• The disabled
• LGBTQ
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How do so many American
children become victims?
• American children are easy
targets for sex traffickers.
• The vulnerability is the
child’s age.
• Traffickers target locations
that attract youth - schools,
malls, parks, shelters and
group homes, and the
Internet.
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Working in nail salons
Construction workers
Often victims are
working right in
our midst. We
may have walked
past them or
encountered them
in ordinary
situations.
Field & farm workers
Cleaning in hotels
Restaurant workers29
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Traffickers
Who are the pimps...
the traffickers?
What do they look like?
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In Plain Sight…
“Juvenile Delinquent”
or
“Victim?”
Due to misidentification,
ignorance, or efforts to
keep victims safe from
traffickers …
children are often labeled
as delinquents and
placed in detention
facilities.
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In Plain Sight…
“Illegal Immigrant” or “Victim?”
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Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000 (TVPA)
Areas of Focus:
• Prevention
– Public awareness and education
• Protection
– T visa, certification, benefits and services
• Prosecution
– Created Federal crime of trafficking, new law
enforcement tools and efforts
US Department of Health and Human
Services, ACF, Trafficking Campaign
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State Laws Against
Human Trafficking
* Criminal Provisions now in all 50 States
*
* Details vary by state relative to resources for
trafficked victims, law enforcement training,
definition of “minor,” task forces and
commissions working on the issue.
* Enforcement is now KEY!
Needs of Trafficked Persons
Collaborative Approach – Law Enforcement; Social Service; Community Groups
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Services – not detention
Translation/interpretation
Services for physical and mental health
Food, Housing, Clothing
Legal services – immigration services
Education
Employment
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What Can YOU Do?
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How does human trafficking
touch my life?
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http://www.gourmet.com/foodpolitics/2009/03/politics-of-the-plate-tomato-slavesfollow-up
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http://news.change.org/stories/tell-hershey-to-support-fair-trade-this-worldfair-trade-day
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International Labor Rights Forum
Missed the Goal for Workers: The Reality of Soccer
Ball Stitchers in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand
The report details a variety of abuses, from child labor to
hazardous working conditions to the practice of hiring temporary
stitchers, leaving the workers vulnerable to exploitation.
http://www.traffickingproject.org/2010/07/mi
ssed-goal-for-workers-reality-of.html
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http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/responsibleshopper/
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Get Involved!
•
•
•
•
Start a human trafficking group on campus.
Do research on the topic and publish it!
Organize film and book discussion groups.
Collect toiletries for local shelters and outreach
programs in your area.
• Invite speakers—even survivors-- on human
trafficking to campus.
• Host plays, music, dance, art exhibits with
proceeds going to human trafficking
organizations
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Get Involved!
• Change the culture! Don’t tolerate demeaning
language about either gender, about prostituted
women; don’t participate in “pimp and ho”
parties, watch your language, etc.
• Vote! AND let your state and national legislators
know that you want the laws regarding human
trafficking enforced and strengthened.
• Be concerned about one another. Challenge
risky behavior of friends and family members.
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Red Flags
• Is the person you encounter accompanied by
another person who seems controlling?
• Does one person insist on giving the
information for the other person?
• Does one person hold the ID for the other
person?
• Can you see or detect any physical abuse?
• Use of the term “Daddy”
• Branding – not just a fun tattoo
• Young girl with hotel cards
• Young girls with older boyfriends
• Young girls with new clothes, new jewelry,
nails, hair
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Questions to Ask
• you
Canleave
you leave
your
work
or
Can
your job
if you
want?
Can
come and
go as
you
jobyou
situation
if you
want?
please?
• When you are not working,
Have you ever been threatened, or
can youthreatened
come and
go family?
as you please?
has anyone
your
What
are your
• Have
youworking/living
been threatened with
conditions
like?
harm
if you try to quit?
Where do you sleep and eat?
• Hasa anyone
threatened
your
Is there
lock on your
door so you
cannotfamily?
get out?
Does someone prohibit you from
socializing or attending religious
services?
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Getting Victims of Human
Trafficking the Help They Need
1.888.3737.888
or text BeFree (233733)
This hotline will help you:
•Determine if you have encountered victims of human trafficking
•Identify local community resources to help victims
•Coordinate with local social service organizations to help protect and serve victims
so they begin process of restoring their lives
Local FBI Office
.
Call local police if victim is at risk of imminent harm
www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking
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The Collaborative to End Human
Trafficking
A working group of concerned people in
northern Ohio
Mission:
To educate and advocate for the prevention and
abolition of human trafficking while
connecting services on behalf of trafficked persons.
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Visit www.collaborativeinitiative.org to sign
up for our e-newsletter and “Like” us on
Facebook!
440-356-2254