Calling all travelers: help stop trafficking
cdapress.com | Jul 21st 2011Twenty-seven million people are trafficked as slaves worldwide, mostly children, with women a close second. Annually about 800,000 of those are in the U.S., in quiet neighborhoods, decent hotels, or anywhere. The primary purpose is sexual slavery/forced prostitution; the secondary, labor. All are treated as property.
Most people care. Few know what to do about it.
There are three things everyone can do: know the signs, be aware of others and report suspicions. Odds are good that many of us have seen a victim. We've passed them on the street or, more likely, seen one in an airport, even if we didn't know what we were seeing.
Know the signs and become aware.
While any one of these signs may mean something else, they can also alert observers to a trafficking crime in progress:
* Children or women who don't seem to have normal relationships with their adult escorts
* Inconsistent stories from the potential victim and the person they're with
* Disorientation, anxiousness, depression, fear in the eyes/avoiding eye contact
* Someone who shows signs of physical/sexual/emotional abuse, or who seems under another's control
* A boss or other who "holds" another's money or identification for her, especially if the victim also has a large debt (e.g., cases may involve false "immigration" costs or loans)
* Odd conditions of employment, such as strange hours (or a person never leaving 'work' at all), locks and darkened windows. Some illicit businesses are surreptitiously called tanning salons or massage parlors, but don't operate as openly and publicly as do the legitimate ones.
* Someone who isn't sure of where he/she is or has no real sense of time
Report suspicions, especially during travel.
Most victims travel at some point, either by force or ruse, and so have the best hopes of being seen during travel. Airports, flights, buses and hotels are golden opportunities for outside help, and the travel industry is getting involved. The nonprofit Airline Ambassadors International provides training; Delta and Hilton recently signed on for AAI training, which teaches flight crews and other employees to watch for signs.
According to the Christian Science Monitor this month, one woman returning to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic after completing a humanitarian mission saw a man with a little girl. He stopped the child when she tried to speak to others. He didn't seem very familiar with her. When they went to the bathroom and he returned carrying her apparently sleeping body (she'd been drugged), the woman reported it to flight personnel. He was part of a trafficking ring.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, most human trafficking cases are initiated by public reporting. If we don't get more involved, these crimes will continue to rise, as they have in North Carolina, which holds the infamous No. 1 position for U.S. cases. Many victims are Hispanic or African, although nationwide American Caucasian women and children are also kidnapped and sold. At an average profit to traffickers of $200,000 per victim, business is booming.
If you see the signs while traveling by air, tell flight personnel. Otherwise call 911 or DHS via the National Human Trafficking Hotline (888) 373-7888 and report it. They'll take care of the rest. Another traveler reported two children on a flight who appeared to be distraught. The resulting investigation led to the rescue of 82 children in Boston.
July is Make a Difference for Children Month. By simply being aware and reporting what they saw, these travelers saved trafficked children. For information see Polarisproject.org or Soroptimist.org [(208) 777-7000 North Idaho chapter].
Sholeh Patrick is an attorney and a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email sholehjo@hotmail.com
Original Page: http://www.cdapress.com/columns/sholeh_patrick/article_e79f7741-1a33-5ced-b11b-835227022158.html
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