Presentation Overview

2. PresentationOverview • What is human trafficking • How to Identify human trafficking victims • Local Information • Task Force activities & what you can do

3. WHAT LEGALLY DEFINES HUMAN TRAFFICKING?

4. Trafficking Victims Protection Acts of 2000 and 2005 • Recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person • for labor or services, • through the use of force, fraud, or coercion • for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery; • for Sex trafficking • in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, • or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age

5. SMUGGLING vs. HUMAN TRAFFICKING What is the difference?

6. SMUGGLING A Crime Against a Country Control Ends at the Border • HUMAN TRAFFICKING A Crime Against a Person Ongoing Control Involving Forced Labor or Service or Commercial Sex Acts

7. What can human trafficking look like? • Lutheran Family Services

8. STATISTICAL INFORMATIONDifficult to Obtain and Validate

9. After drug dealing, human trafficking is the second largest criminal industry in the world, and it is the fastest growing. Estimated at $44 billion

10. Estimated Victims ofHuman Trafficking • Estimated 17,000 -20,000 foreign nationals trafficked into the US each year • 100,000 – 300,000 domestic minors are at risk of being recruited into prostitution • 800,000 – 1,000,000 individuals trafficked across international borders each year • 80% of victims are women and children

11. Look Beneath the Surface, into the Silence: Role of Service Providers and Others in Identifying and Helping Victims of Human Trafficking Adapted from: www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking

12. Where Do Victims Come From? • Victims can be from the United States (Domestic) or from other countries (Foreign Nationals) Victims can come here legally or illegally

13. Who can be a victim? Vulnerable populations: • Undocumented persons • Runaway and homeless youth • Persons living in poverty, particularly women • Displaced or uprooted persons • Victims of abuse

14. Who Finds the Victims? • Law Enforcement • Victim Advocates • Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) • Medical Providers • Case Workers • Business Owners/Other Employees • Victim Self-Identification • Good Samaritans

15. Challenges to Identifying Victims • Can’t find the victims • Limited freedom, frequent movement, isolated, “invisible” • Can’t prove the victim is trafficked, lack of evidence, victim is afraid to tell the truth, victim is the primary evidence • Possible “leaks”; traffickers informed of inquiry • When to act/get law enforcement involved • Victim centered approach

16. Trafficking Victims Victims suffer from a host of physical and psychological problems stemming from: • Inadequate nutrition • Inhumane living conditions • Dangerous workplace conditions • Brutal physical and emotional abuse

17. Trafficking Victims: Understanding Mindset Frequently victims: • Do not speak English and are unfamiliar with the U.S. culture • Confined to room or small space to work, eat, sleep • Fear, distrust service providers, government, police • Fear of being deported

18. Mindset Continued • Unaware what is being done to them is a crime • Do not consider themselves victims • Blame themselves for their situations • May develop loyalties, positive feelings toward trafficker as coping mechanism • May try to protect trafficker from authorities • Sometimes victims do not know where they are, because traffickers frequently move them to escape detection • Fear for safety of family in home country

19. Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking Look for Fraud, Force and Coercion • Is potential victim accompanied by another person who seems controlling? • Does person accompanying potential victim insist on giving information to service providers? • Can you see or detect any physical abuse? • Does potential victim seem submissive or fearful?

20. Questions you can ask to Help Identify a Victim of Human Trafficking • Can they leave their work or job situation if they want? • When they are not working, can they come and go as they please? • Have they been threatened with harm if they try to quit? • Has anyone threatened their family? • Where do they sleep and eat? • Is there a lock on their door or windows so they cannot get out?

21. Communicating with Victims of Human Trafficking • FOR YOUR SAFETY, CALL HOTLINES FIRST • NEVER CONTACT A VICTIM IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN TRAINED TO DO SO • Gather as much information as possible: description of victim, location, description of possible trafficker, car type and model, license plate number etc.

22. Communicating with Victims of Human Trafficking • For trained professionals: • For victim’s safety, strict confidentiality is paramount • Ask questions 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

23. It doesn’t happen here…does it?

24. COLORADO • Estimated average of 39 children reported missing every 24 hours in Colorado (The National Human Trafficking Resource Center -NHTRC) • Estimates between 2000 and 2006 reflected an average of 14,500 – 16,000 missing children reports (NHTRC) • Overall victims assisted + traffickers prosecuted = unknown, Little reporting! • Local (CSPD = average of 567 missing or found juvenile reports between 2006-2009)

25. VICTIMS ENCOUNTERED • Magazine Sales Crew Members • Teenager with Older Man, Mother refused to press charges – he was a “friend” • Human Trafficking victim now living in our area • Asian victim who went through process as a HT victim • Runaway teenager, pimped to support friends, returned home, working through issues • Children selling candy on streets, adult in car nearby refusing to give accurate information

26. WHAT DO VICTIMS NEED? Four general areas of victim needs: • Immediate assistance Housing, food, medical, safety and security, language interpretation and legal services • Mental health assistance Therapeutic continuum from crisis intervention to intensive counseling • Income assistance Cash, living assistance, job training and employment • Legal assistance T visa, immigration, certification, legal advocacy

27. HUMAN TRAFFICKING TASK FORCE OF SOUTHERN COLORADO • WHO WE ARE – Collaboration of organizations and individuals fighting modern day slavery – through advocacy, awareness, rehabilitation and services for survivors. • WHAT WE’VE ACCOMPLISHED – in two plus years: • Held three symposiums • Sponsored community needs assessments • Presented information to many groups • Worked on domestic child trafficking prevention efforts • Started service provider network • Supported FBI Victim Specialist to rescue over 20 victims • SIGNED MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH CONEHT – Link to collaboration in Denver

28. What Is Next ? • Educate and advocate! • Educate yourself ,movies, books, task force • Commit to telling 10 others about human trafficking • Watch for relevant legislation • Support organizations committed to supporting victims • Get involved! • Join Task Force • Watch for Next Community Event! • Be observant! • Human Trafficking Awareness Brochures • How to recognize a victim, hot lines to call – put numbers in your cell phone!!

29. You don’t have to determine if someone may be a victim of trafficking alone! Call National Hotline 1-888-3737-888 CoNEHT Hotline (Colorado) at 1-866-455-5075

30. THANK YOU • Lutheran Family Services – some info • ACF - Administration for Children & Families www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking

31. Questions and Answers