Dressember is over and Human Trafficking Awareness month 2019 is finished, but the conversations about human trafficking haven’t stopped. This past week alone has brought tons of attention to the inhumane industry. On Sunday, Atlanta hosted the Super Bowl, which is controversially recognized for its influence on sex trafficking. A few days after, President Trump acknowledged the realities of human trafficking in America during his State of the Union Address, even honoring an ICE member who has helped lead stings against pimps. Finally, Thursday, February 7th, was “Shine a Light on Slavery Day.” This is part of the End It Movement’s work to eliminate human trafficking by first raising awareness about it. By highlighting conversations you might have missed about human trafficking and anti-human trafficking efforts, you’ll be better equipped to recognize them going forward and prepared to talk to others about them.
The Super Bowl
– Nita Belles, founder and executive director of In Our Back Yard
“The Super Bowl does not increase trafficking, sex buyers increase trafficking”
Reportings on human trafficking and the Super Bowl have left a lot of us with whiplash. Some say it’s a huge event that needs tons of anti-human trafficking efforts, while others say that it doesn’t affect human trafficking in the slightest. Here’s what you need to know: human trafficking is already happening in the hosting cities, law enforcement and NGOs work hard to support whomever they can, and human trafficking still prevails. A lot of frustration stems from the fact that numbers don’t support the narrative that the Super Bowl is the largest event for human trafficking in America, yet many volunteer efforts around that weeked focus on supporting victims and arresting buyers. While this is not a bad practice, it can distract from other issues a city can face when hosting a Super Bowl (such as the negative effects on people experiencing homelessness and the use of local tax dollars on the event rather than the city’s needs). The Super Bowl brings in a ton of anti-human trafficking awareness each year, and more conversations around the issue can’t hurt, but let’s make sure the facts we use are accurate and that we are advocating for the well being of everybody in the area and not just potential victims of trafficking.
The State of the Union
President Trump himself touched on Human Trafficking in his State of the Union Address this past week, acknowledging that we have high numbers of victims trafficked into our country. Old data (2005) estimated that 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the US each year, (no data exists about the southern border specifically). While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is controversially recognized in American politics right now, there is a branch of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) focussed on anti-human trafficking efforts. While the president took this opportunity to encourage stricter immigration policies, what we need to do is focus on the fact that people are being trafficked into the United States because they make a profit for their traffickers here. That means there are buyers in America, and these buyers might not be who you expect. The typical man (for example) who purchases sex is otherwise average. The stereotypical buyer is are around 30 years old, could be a variety of racial backgrounds, often married, have no criminal record, and while they might not be intentionally seeking interactions with minors, most don’t turn away from the chance when offered (gross). The odds are, these buyers are people you and I interact with on a regular basis, and they don’t want us to know. We can easily deter trafficking by having bold conversations with the people around us about the real impacts of our actions.
The End It Movement and the Speak Up Campaign
Did you see any red Xs on people’s hand or on social media Thursday? For the past 12 years, people have been drawing these on their hands for Shine a Light Against Slavery Day to help create awareness on how prevalent human trafficking is. Now partnering with 16 organizations, the End It Movement, which sponsors this day, helps facilitate funds to anti-trafficking efforts through donations and an apparel shop. One of these partners is International Justice Mission (IJM), who has an ask of each of us. Right now, they need our help more than ever to encourage Congress to completely fund the Program to End Modern Slavery (a bipartisan program) which provides money to anti-human trafficking work. Through IJM’s Speak Up campaign, they ask that we sign the petition and tell our representatives that this is something we care about. If you want to hear IJM founder Gary Haugen speak about both the End It Movement and The Speak Up Campaign click here (starting at about 58:00 – if you want to hear his whole talk on a God who won’t be mocked, start at 38:00).
To sign the petition click here
Human trafficking is all around us, but when we look closely, we will see that awareness is too. Keep your eyes peeled for other conversations about this horrific industry and how you can stop it.
