WHAT IS HUMAN TRAFFICKING?

• Human trafficking is a modern day form of slavery. It is widespread throughout the United States today.

• Trafficking of humans is the second largest criminal industry in the world after drug dealing, and is the fastest growing industry.

• Many victims of trafficking are made to engage in prostitution, pornography and exotic dancing, but trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, restaurant work, sweatshop factory work or migrant agricultural work.

HOW DOES HUMAN TRAFFICKING HAPPEN?

Traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to press victims into lives of servitude and abuse.

• FORCE: involves the use of rape, beatings, and confinement to control victims. Forceful violence is used during the early stages of victimization, which is used to make the victims easier to control.

• FRAUD: may involve luring someone into a trafficking situation through false offers of employment or marriage.

• COERCION: involves threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint of, any person; any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; or abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.

• *EXCEPTION: When the person is less than 18 years old and has been trafficked into sex work, force, fraud and coercion do not apply; this person is a trafficking victim because they are under 18 years of age.

HOW DOES HUMAN TRAFFICKING WORK?

• Factor 1: Push/Pull of human trafficking

• Factor 2: Reality Factor

  • Vulnerability
  • False promises
  • Some children are sold/given away by parents
  • Familial and community connections

• Factor 3: Commodification of people

  • It is easier to smuggle people than drugs or weapons
  • Mafias or loosely organized crime net works
  • People are reusable and resalable

Who are the Victims of Human Trafficking?

• Approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims annually trafficked across international borders worldwide
• Between 18,000 and 20,000 victims trafficked into United States annually.
• More than half of victims trafficked into United States are thought to be children; victims are probably about equally women and men.
• Victims can be trafficked into the U.S. from anywhere in the world. Victims have come from, among other places, Africa, Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Russia, and Canada.
• Within the U.S., both citizens and non-citizens fall prey to traffickers.
• Many victims in the U.S. do not speak English and are unable to communicate with service providers, police, or others who might be able to help them.
• Often kept isolated and activities restricted to prevent them from seeking help
• Typically watched, escorted or guarded by traffickers or associates of traffickers
• Traffickers may “coach” victims to answer questions with cover story about being wife, student or tourist
• Victims comply and don’t seek help because of fear.

 

A 9-year-old girl toils under the hot sun, making bricks from morning to night, seven days a week. She was trafficked with her entire family from Bihar, one of the poorest and most underdeveloped states in India, and sold to the owner of a brick-making factory. With no means of escape, and unable to speak the local language, the family is isolated and lives in terrible conditions. Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department

Forms of Recruitment:

• Smuggling networks
• Employment agencies
• Maid/housekeeping/nanny schemes
• Mail order bride services
• Internet schemes
• False modeling agencies
• Befriending and/or seduction
• Illegal foreign adoption agencies

People are trafficked for:

• Domestic Servitude
• Sex work
• Forced prostitution
• Marriages
• Factory work
• Begging
• International adoptions
• Agricultural work
• Criminal activity
• Restaurant work
• Construction
• Hotel/Motel housekeeping

Young women used in prostitution wait for customer/exploiters in Mumbai's red light district. They face routine violence from pimps and customers and a wide range of diseases and adverse health effects -- from sexually-transmitted diseases and tuberculosis, to rape, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide, and murder. Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department.

Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking:

• Is potential victim accompanied by another person who seems controlling?
• Does person accompanying potential victim insist on giving information to you?
• Can you see or detect any physical abuse?
• Does potential victim seem submissive or fearful?
• Does potential victim have difficulty communicating because of language or cultural barriers?
• Does potential victim have any identification?

Red Flags:

• Living with employer
• Poor living conditions
• Holding of documents
• Signs of abuse
• Inability to speak to individual alone
• Victims living at same premise where they work or driven to and from work
• Kept under surveillance
• Submissive and fearful
• Underpaid or unpaid

Tips for Communicating with Victims of Human Trafficking:

• Before talking to potential trafficking victim, isolate individual from person accompanying her/him without raising suspicions Individual accompanying person may be trafficker posing as spouse, other family member or employer Say that it is your policy to speak to person alone
• Enlist trusted translator/interpreter who also understands victim’s cultural needs If person is child, important to enlist help of specialist skilled in interviewing child
• For victim’s safety, strict confidentiality is paramount Talk to victims in safe, confidential and trusting environment Limit number of staff members coming in contact with suspected trafficking victim
• Importance of indirectly and sensitively probing to determine if person is trafficking victim May deny being trafficking victim, so best not to ask direct questions Phrase “trafficking victim” will have no meaning

Possible Screening Questions:

• Can you leave your work or job situation if you want?
• When you are not working, can you come and go as you please?
• Have you been threatened with harm if you try to quit?
• Has anyone threatened your family?
• What are your working or living conditions like?
• Where do you sleep and eat?
• Do you have to ask permission to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom?
• Is there a lock on your door or windows so you cannot get out?

Communicating With Victims of Human Trafficking

Most victims of trafficking experience intense fear – of their traffickers and of being deported. Therefore, when interacting with potential trafficking victims, it is important to reassure them that they are safe so you can begin the process of helping them get the protection and assistance they need to rebuild their lives safely in the United States . Gaining the trust of human trafficking victims is an important first step in providing assistance.

Sample messages you can use to help gain this trust include:

• We are here to help you.
• Our first priority is your safety.
• Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, victims of trafficking can apply for special visas or could receive other forms of immigration relief.
• We will give you the medical care that you need.
• We can find you a safe place to stay.
• You have a right to live without being abused.
• You deserve the chance to become self-sufficient and independent.
• We can help get you what you need.
• We can help to protect your family.
• You can trust me.
• We want to make sure what happened to you doesn't happen to anyone else.
• You have rights.
• You are entitled to assistance. We can help you get assistance.
• If you are a victim of trafficking, you can receive help to rebuild your life safely in this country.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/campaign_kits/tool_kit_social/comm_victims.html

Needs of Survivors:

There are four general areas of victim needs:

• Immediate assistance
  Housing, food, medical, safety and security, language interpretation and legal services
• Mental health assistance
  Counseling
• Income assistance
  Cash, living assistance
• Legal status
  T visa, immigration, certification

Rights of a Survivor:

• Safety
• Privacy
• Interpretation
• Legal Representation
• Right to be heard in court
• Civil compensation
• Medical assistance
• Immigration relief
• Repatriation
• Case management
• Benefits

What to do if you think you have come in contact with a victim of human trafficking: If someone is at risk of imminent harm call 911

For service or information in Minnesota:

• Civil Society:
  • (651) 291-8810
  • 1-888-7-SAFE-24
  • 24 hours, interpretation available
• SEWA-AIFW:
  • (612) 522-9387
  • Free legal clinics by appointment every Tuesday

For information on services outside of Minnesota:

National Hotline: 1-888-373-7888

- 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

For more information on human trafficking visit www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking