5. I’m using the term girl throughout this presentation- because 80% of
victims are female– but want to note that boys are victims of human
trafficking also, for both labor and sex.
In fact prostituted boys typically begin at an even younger age than
girls.
In the first hour we took a look at the faces of slavery around the world…Now let’s catch a glimpse of some of the possible ways to engage in the work to end slavery and aid victims, This is not meant to be an all inclusive look – just to inspire your creativity– and to get you thinking about adapting to the unique situations you may find yourself in.
What do you almost always see in a movie or TV show about trafficking? The moment of rescue! No doubt about it—those moments are crucial! ITeams has an operative in India, as I mentioned, who has rescued many hundreds of girls trapped in sex slavery. Exciting moments indeed, The other thing people think about is shelters. –both are needed in this epidemic But neither is actually doing anything about ending slavery. Focusing only on rescues and shelters is like running around with a mop to clean up after a burst sewer pipe. At some point we need to shut off the water.– systemic changes That’s one great thing about ITeams– we’re there for the long haul and not just a moment of crisis or a media sound bite.
What is really exciting to me is that we are perfectly positioned to work effectivelyWe work among oppressed people and, consequently, the people who are most vulnerable to slavery. We have established relationships in those communities– know the local culture and customsWe already know or have some idea how to find out how the legal system works (or perhaps how well it doesn’t work), We can develop eyes and ears on the ground to learn about local trafficking from, say, shopkeepers, landlords and neighbors who trust us.… We’re there for the long haul and not just a media sound bite.
So let’s start with Prevention- is a great place to start because it’s a whole lot better to actually prevent someone from being trafficked than it is to rescue them after the fact! Let’s think about the ways people get trafficked and what types of preventative measures might be effective.—People get lured by the promise of a job and opportunities elsewhere–they’ll be able to help support their family, or escape a grim existence . Example– in Brazil traffickers go to rural villages….What could be done in the way of prevention? People warn community leaders, who in turn warn others? Set up community watch. Maybe they bring in a rescued slave from the area to tell local people what happened to him or her and how. maybe a street theatre troop that uses drama to tell about sweet talking traffickers who force unsuspecting people into slavery. micro-enterprise– help villagers earn living themselves making them less vulnerable (show stuff made by such villages)Partners with people in wealthier nations who work to find places to sell those products. This is pretty easy to do in the US, because If there is one thing we Americans do well, it is shopping. (
Probably the most common approach is boyfriending– and variations of it…(SHOW VIDEO)There are many other possible endings to this scene. Too often a vulnerable girl will continue to think her trafficker is her boyfriend and that he loves her, all evidence to the contrary– rapes, selling her for sex, beatings, sleeping with other girls in his ‘stable’– but the occasional affirmations and gifts become so powerfully drawing that this girl remains hooked. Brainwashed. As we’ve seen ---Traffickers actually have manuals teaching them methods for breaking the spirit of a girl to become a pliable commodity through psychological manipulation . Too often this story would just end in death. 7 years average life expectancy. “Girlfriending’ is a common variation, a girl acts like a girlfriend and introduces her slightly overweight, or not especially popular or otherwise needy prey to a life that, at first glance seems like entrance into popularity ….often not realizing that the boys swarming around her popular friend are pimps and Johns.
I’m using the term girl throughout this presentation- because 80% of victims are female– but want to note that boys are victims of human trafficking also, for both labor and sex. In fact prostituted boys typically begin at an even younger age than girls.
Drugging at social events like parties and sleepovers is another common tactic. (SHOW VIDEO)Drugs may be added when a girl leaves her food or drink unattended for a moment, perhaps to go to the bathroom. Or her cup may already have been coated with powder or the drink already drugged before it was poured.Victims wake up to find themselves being repeatedly raped. Sometimes the acts are videotaped and the victim keeps quiet for fear or shame that the video will be shown to schoolmates or parents. Other times family members are threatened. In one case, a girl was told the trafficker would pour acid over her 8 year old sisters face in her presence if she told anyone- in another, that the trafficker would do to her little sister what had been done to her.What could be done? presentation in school about the tactics and dangers of traffickers – other venues– teachers and parents taughtTANGENT__VISIT bethejam.org– share with young people– videos/ recaps of FIVE most common lures) We have prevention focuses in a number of our teams– including a team in the making in Belo Horizonte, Brazil
It’s easy to underestimate the importance of just making people aware of the issue.At this presentation to a community group, a pastor sat on the back row. Exterminator– labor trafficking ring I could share numerous similar stories. The phrase I hear most often when I speak on this issue is “I had no idea…” (Talk about it– tweet it, retweet our tweets, use FB status once a week…. Show a film and discuss– faces of slavery online I can share with them to share with others so many ways ITeams is developing a team in Brazil focusing on prevention and awareness. Other teams that include awareness work are Uganda, Thailand, Bulgaria, Australia– new team and first member is from IT US) – Nashville--- (Michele and Maureen!!) also Julie is involved in this in her home town of Grand Rapids–
In nashville, our volunteers put up eye catching posters designed by a graphic designer with the hotline help number and red flags that can indicate trafficking. RED FLAGS– link on their handouts Learn these! Teach them– share them The words we use are important too. I often write to newspapers and suggest changes in terminology simply because some terms have negative implications for the person referred to: +++ For example- There is no such thing as a child prostitute, +++ only prostituted children. And some terms lend normalcy or trivialize actions. Calling a man who buys little girls “a client or customer” is an example. +++
Are any of you going to countries where prostitution is legal? (Still illegal in most) In Nashville we teach at John school: telling the men that some of these prostitutes might actually be slaves, working against their will. That, in any case, their choices feed the trafficking industry. Like any biz– pimps see what sells and order that ‘product’—increasingly younger and younger . Many men are surprised to hear this. We’ve had men come up after we speak sometimes, to tell us how appalled they would be if this happened to their children or grandchildren. You can tell their perspective has been changedShaming techniques– photos on website, billboards, TV -Some work to train law enforcement so that the Johns are criminalized and not the victims. A church – or team– can be a a great prevention tool. Too often, Christians don't speak of things like pornography and sexual addictions, and these feed into human trafficking. If you become a community where these problems are dealt with in a healthy way – and someone struggling with these issues can share their struggles honestly and find accountability and a safe place –you play an important part in preventing new traffickers and new consumers. Another way to stop demand is to stop purchasing the products made by labor slaves and encouraging others to do the same. Link to Radiohead clip in handoutsLinks in handouts to chainstore reaction, free2 work (app) , Int Labor Org By changing our buying habits—and encouraging others to do the same—we can make an impact.
Back to those rescues everyone gets excited about-- Let's face it – this is very dangerous work. We are talking about interfering with the second largest crime in the world. We are going up against a very sophisticated, violent and wealthy criminal network. These are not nice people, If you get involved in physical rescues, you need to know what you are doing. And, if you do not know what you are doing, then you need to leave that job to others. My police contacts tell me that well-meaning but unprepared people who go in and try to rescue slaves make their work more difficult—law enforcement then has to be concerned with protecting the rescuer as well as themselves and the victims. But if this is your calling, you might be apprentice with people who are successfully conducting rescues
Outreach: ANY work with exploited people begins with developing relationships with them. We need to reach out to victims, gaining their trust. There has to be a context for making contact with trafficked persons. This might be a drop-in center, street work (like distributing toiletries), visitation efforts, or just being in the same place at the same time every week. NeaZoi in Greece has been doing this type of outreach for a decade now. Tell about girls just escaped…. Came to them!
You may notice when you look at HT/slavery websites, a wide range of contradictory statistics. This is not really surprising. Gathering information about human trafficking and slavery isn’t like flying over the Serengeti in an airplane counting elephants! This is a hidden crime and neither victims nor perpetrators line up to be counted. We need so much in the way of accurate information to be able to work effectively.In Nashville- We are doing research on ads in Backpage--- surveillance work-- also on-line map to track casesI’ll not go into a lot of detail on this because each setting would be different but there are tools and strategies to gather info about trafficking in your area, In your place of service you may notice slavery in a labor setting– Brazil– dairy farms surrounding city
Also, people can be trained to trace the supply lines from raw materials to finished products to see where slavery is used. Kevin Bales, who has done a great deal of research in this area, says “Slaves in Pakistan may have made the shoes you are wearing and the carpet you stand on. Slaves in the Caribbean may have put sugar in your kitchen and toys in the hands of your children. In India they may have sewn the shirt on your back and polished the ring on your finger. In Brazil slaves made the charcoal that tempered the steel that made the springs in your car and the blade on your lawn mower. Slaves grew the rice that fed the woman that wove the lovely cloth you've put up as curtains.
Your investment portfolio and your mutual-fund pension own stock in companies using slave labor in the developing world. Slaves keep your costs low and returns on your investments high." (Ok– so most of us don’t have to worry about that_But the average consumer doesn’t have time or ability to investigate every item they buy. So we need to provide research and find creative ways to enhance and support the groups that list slave made items… and come up with creative ways to put this information in the hands of the everyday consumer—in an affluent nation-- on their smart phones for example.
Training: Many people are likely in contact with victims—but they often don’t know what to watch for – they don't know the red flags (the signs) that say "this is a victim of human trafficking." Or if they do know, then they don’t know what to do about it. I know several cases where a medical professional encountered clear signs of trafficking- and did nothing or didn’t recognize the indicators. 12 yr old girl in Nashville---What if people trained these professionals on the red flags for victims, the hotline help numbers if there is one, and the steps to take to get help for a possible trafficking victim? Who (ask) - Apt. managers , service station attendants, restaurant inspectors, cable TV installers, postal carriers, medical personnel, teachers, pastors, social workers—and so forth.
Aftercare—Rescue is just the beginning—imagine the complexity of what a typical victim has endured! We are talking about a life filled with the loss of free will, beatings, food withheld, threats and psychological manipulation, related health issues, rapes, drug addiction and so much more. (Rescued victims need transitions to help them adapt to a new life—they need to learn to trust again, they need healing and they need to learn basic skills they may have never learned for living a normal life. (My experience– didn’t have any idea how to learn to drive, pay bills etc.) So we need shelters– trauma counselors– member care for workers to prevent burnout in this very stressful ministry area . We need to give survivors the means to rebuild their lives , regain their dignity and prevent them from being re-trafficked.—which often includes job skills and job opportunities. We might need people to teach basic life skills, like budgeting one’s money or to provide basic education. Handout--- Hands That Heal–Julie and other ITeams peeps trained to train you--
Other— Some people effectively and powerfully use the arts to spread awareness, to raise funds, and to warn local people of the dangers. Art, theatre, music… VIDEOGRAPHY This list is a far from comprehensive—the purpose, as we said at the beginning, is just to stir your creative mind to see the variety of ways possible for engaging in this fight. Q and A
