168 Child Sex Trafficking Victims Rescued: Learn What You Can Do To Help Stop The Massive Issue That Is Human Trafficking

FBI Takes Down 281 Sex-Trade Handlers

CBS just released news that 168 child sex victims were rescued as part of a nationwide crackdown by the FBI. In the same breathe, 281 handlers were arrested for their involvement in the heinous crime.

This current crackdown is the eighth week long-operation, which this year unfolded in 106 cities. The FBI says nearly 3,600 children have so far been recovered from the streets.

He said one concerning trend is the increasing prevalence of children who are being prostituted online.

While announcing the results of the crackdown on Monday, the FBI released a video of Nicole, who was 17 when she was lured into a life of forced prostitution.

Since its creation in 2003, the Bureau’s Innocence Lost program has resulted in the identification and recovery of about 3,600 children who have been sexually exploited, according to the FBI.

A World-Wide Issue

Sex trafficking is not just a foreign issue, it’s a worldwide issue affecting millions of people at this very moment. EqualityNow.org states some eye opening facts about the trafficking industry:

• At least 20.9 million adults and children are bought and sold worldwide into commercial sexual servitude, forced labor and bonded labor.
• About 2 million children are exploited every year in the global commercial sex trade.
• Almost 6 in 10 identified trafficking survivors were trafficked for sexual exploitation.
• Women and girls make up 98% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

So what exactly do trafficking victims undergo? Survivors of sex trafficking tell stories of daily degradation of mind and body. They are often isolated, intimidated, sold into debt bondage and subject to physical and sexual assault by their traffickers. Most live under constant mental and physical threat.

Many suffer severe emotional trauma, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and disassociation. They are at greater risk of contracting sexually transmissible infections, including HIV/AIDS. Many female victims become pregnant and are forced to undergo often unsafe abortions.

What Can You Do To Help Stop Human Trafficking?

One of the best things we can do to join the efforts to stop human trafficking is to learn what signs to look for in a trafficking victim. This way, you become a conscious observer of your environment and are then able to recognize if someone is a potential  victim of trafficking abuse.

RED FLAGS TO LOOK OUT FOR A TRAFFICKING VICTIM:

• Living with Employer
• Poor Living Conditions
• Multiple People in Cramped Space
• Inability to Speak to an Individual Alone
• Employer Holding Identity Documents
• Signs of Physical Abuse
• Submissive or Fearful
• Unpaid or Paid Very Little
• Under 18 and in Prostitution
• Heavy security at the commercial establishment including barred windows, locked doors, isolated location, electronic surveillance. Women are never seen leaving the premises unless escorted.
• Victims live at the same premises as the brothel or work site or are driven between quarters and “work” by a guard. For labor trafficking, victims are often prohibited from leaving the work site, which may look like a guarded compound from the outside.
• Victims are kept under surveillance when taken to a doctor, hospital or clinic for treatment; trafficker may act as a translator.
• High foot traffic especially for brothels where there may be trafficked women indicated often by a stream of men arriving and leaving the premises.

Trafficking victims are kept in bondage through a combination of fear, intimidation, abuse and psychological controls. While each victim will have a different experience, they share common threads. Trafficking victims live a life marked by abuse, betrayal of their basic human rights, and control under their trafficker. The mentioned indicators in and of themselves may not be enough to meet the legal standard for trafficking, but they indicate that a victim is controlled by someone else and, accordingly, the situation should be further investigated.

IF YOU ARE ABLE TO ASK QUESTIONS OF A PERSON YOU THINK HAS BEEN TRAFFICKED, THESE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Can You Leave Your Job if You Want?

Can You Come and Go as You Please?

Have You Been Hurt or Threatened if You Tried to Leave?

Has Your Family Been Threatened?

Do You Live With Your Employer?

Where Do You Sleep and Eat?

Are You in Debt to Your Employer?

How did you arrive at this destination?

Do You Have Your Passport/ID? If Not, Who Has It?

Contact Information

If you are interested in donating to, or volunteering with, International Organizations in other countries, you can see the list of International Organizations in Asia which accept donations and volunteers. If you would like more information, contact [email protected]

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Human Trafficking National Coordination Centre (HTNCC)
1-855-850-4640

Sources:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-168-kids-rescued-281-pimps-nabbed-in-sex-trafficking-crackdown/

http://www.equalitynow.org/support

http://www.humantrafficking.org/combat_trafficking

http://www.humantrafficking.org/helplines/detail/united_states_of_america

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