Trafficking Training Tuesdays

F.R.E.E. International is an organization dedicated to finding, rescuing, embracing, and empowering victims of human trafficking, and is now hosting a trafficking training webinar every Tuesday in the month of October.  Featured speakers are experts on trafficking in the United States, with this week's training given by the Department of Homeland Security.


You can attend the webinar at 1pm CST at http://ag.adobeconnect.com/ministrydirect/.


If you can't make it at 1pm on Tuesday--fear not! The hour-long webinars will be posted on F.R.E.E.'s website for later review. For more information on the trainings and speakers, click here.

"Taken" or not: how people end up in modern-day sex slavery in America

After the thriller, Taken, was released in 2009 a frenzy went up among parents everywhere concerning the imminent danger of young French men hoping to share a taxi cab. Perhaps not, but a fear did seem to swell in regards to sending adolescents to Europe alone. People wondered whether the events depicted in the movie truly occur in real life and whether there is cause to be legitimately concerned about young people being “taken.”

It is not to say that events like those shown in the film don’t happen that way in the “real world”; they do. However, having masked men break into a luxurious home to forcibly steal wealthy young women is less likely to occur than other modes of entry into the sex industry, at least in the U.S.

First, consider that every industry involves some form of supply and demand and we could not expect less from the sex industry. Breaking down the economics of it a wee bit, we find that the supply refers to exploitable persons and the demand refers to why people want to exploit them. Exploitation happens in any number of ways and for any number of reasons, but for now we’re going to explore who is exploitable and how they are more commonly brought into the sex trade. Keep in mind that by “common,” we are referring to what is occurring in the U.S. and specifically Minnesota.   

There are several factors that contribute to a person being exploitable, such as race, socio-economic status, gender, age, immigrant status, and more. The average age for entering prostitution in Minnesota is 14 and the most targeted race for prostitution is Native American followed by other races of color although all racial groups are affected by the sex industry.  Teen runaways are especially vulnerable to being trafficked because they often have a pressing need physically, emotionally, psychologically or socially, and more likely a mixture of the four. Since homelessness is in most cases a direct result of running away from home, research tells us that a teen runaway will be approached by someone looking to exploit them within the first 36 hours of being on the streets.  This holding true would suggest that all homeless youth are highly at risk for exploitation. Additionally, previous history of abuse is another factor almost always accompanying victims coerced into the sex trade.

Traffickers or pimps look for people with vulnerabilities whether that vulnerability is economic, emotional, social, etc., since people with vulnerabilities are easy to manipulate. It may be as simple as a male pimp (females also pimp, but because males primarily take on this role, we will refer to traffickers and pimps as “he” for ease of speech as well as refer to victims as “her” since females are more likely to be trafficked sexually than males) scoping out a mall, school, shelter, or social gathering, finding a girl who is susceptible is some way and preying on that weakness. He tells her she’s beautiful or special. Maybe he promises her friends to hang with or a place to stay if she’s having a rough time. Once he takes her home with him, he might take any medications she has away from her as well as any IDs. That is one way to make her dependent on him; another way is to addict her to substances. And since he has been so kind to her and given her a home, friends, or food, it would be a little thing to ask for her to sleep with his friends in return for his provision. He toys with her heart, her mind, and breaks her down psychologically, physically, and emotionally until he can do with her whatever he pleases. 

The previous scenario is one example of a more common form of entry into sex trafficking in the U.S. than abduction. It’s called manipulation. Although manipulation is more frequently the method of choice, there is no set formula for creating victims of sexual exploitation. It occurs in many ways and takes many forms.

Curbing the supply of exploitable persons is important in ending modern-day sex slavery and can occur through financial aid to services and programs for victims or at-risk persons, although monetary aid only goes so far. Many are at-risk  because they find little value in themselves and are in search of someone to validate their worth. Identifying those at-risk in your neighborhood, workplace, or school and pursuing them with love, treating them relentlessly as a human being who holds value and purpose simply because they are a person, many meet a deeper thirst than a program of service can quench. It seems logical that, if worth is indeed one of the root issues here, the more people finding sincere validation and acceptance, the fewer who will do anything for it.

5 ways to fight modern-day slavery wherever you are

The Star Fish—based on the story by Loren Eisley

I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.


As I approached, I sadly realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."


As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, strectching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference."


The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."

Get the picture? The point is, there isn’t a superman. No one gets to save the world single-handedly and in one day, unless you're Jesus. Making a difference is as simple as one person being what they are and giving what they can.  So on that note, here are five ways YOU can make a difference when it comes to fighting modern-day slavery wherever you are:

1. Put up posters in multiple languages in public places or print information on cup holders at coffee shops (for ideas of what to put on a poster, click here).

2. Write articles and letter to the editor for local newspaper and newsletters.

3. Commit to abstaining from all forms of commercial sex (including porn, strip clubs, escort services, etc.)

4. Volunteer at a local direct services organization and post a sign with an 800 number for victims.

5. Share the reality of sex trafficking by hosting an awareness/fundraising gathering at home or work (for resources to do this, contact the author).

These ideas were taken from an Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center event and the Breaking Free training hosted in Duluth. To follow-up with these ideas or to find more, contact the author or comment below. 

Pimps, traffickers, and the cost to the community

To some, human trafficking is a phrase that in two words tells how their life or the life of someone they loved was destroyed. To many, human trafficking lists another thing to fight or another issue to solve. And to others, human trafficking is what they call their business. 

These we call traffickers or pimps and it is important to understand that not only is trafficking their business, but business is all it is about. Where some may see a person, these see a commodity. In fact, there are entire books written on how to pimp or to give tips on preying on weaknesses and learning how to manipulate and beat people into submission. With 27 million people being trafficked in the world today, bringing in over $32 billion in profits a year, human trafficking is now the fastest growing black criminal industry in the world. Because of its magnitude, it is critical for those choosing to stand against trafficking to understand who or what they are exactly against.

The second session of Breaking Free’s Tuesday training focused on understanding pimps and traffickers. These people, usually male but at times female too, could perhaps be considered expert “controllers.” They use various forms of torture to psychologically, physically, and emotionally break down their victims. Tuesday’s speaker, Joy Friedman, recounted several accounts of such torture. One story told of a woman being doused in gasoline and having lit matches dropped only feet from where she stood. These “games” are used by traffickers to make it clear that the trafficker, not the victim, holds the key to the victim’s life and death. The victim is not their own; they are property of another. Pornography is also used blackmail for girls and can often be considered torture according to federal definition. Torture of these kinds or worse is the norm for those living in this kind of bondage.

On average, a pimp in the U.S. can make up to $600,000 per year on just 4 women or girls. These women and girls are considered his “stable” and must meet a profit quota each day or face being raped, beaten, or worse. Such quotas usually range from $500-$1,000 a day, forcing women to service more than 10 “clients” or “johns” daily. Girls are starved, beaten, addicted to various substances, and through other means forced into compliance with the pimp’s demands.


If it sounds gruesome, well, it is. And what sadly makes it more difficult to hears is that this is not something that is just happening thousands of miles across the Atlantic or on some Thursday night documentary. 8,000-12,000 women and children are expected to be involved in prostitution on any given night in Minnesota. Each has a completely different story. In fact, there's a good chance that last night somewhere along your route from home to work someone was being sexually exploited. Yes, this happens here.

Breaking Free training offers insight into services needed in Duluth

Last Tuesday, approximately 70 individuals gathered at Hillside church in Duluth and formed a captive audience as a brawny woman with fervid eyes rose to face them. Joy Friedman began to speak and it was instantly clear that the fortitude suggested by her robust physical frame was more than matched, rather heightened, by the tenacity of her spirit.  Once a victim of sexual exploitation herself, Friedman came to educate community members, specifically business professionals, on the realities and necessary responses to the commercial sexual exploitation occurring in the Duluth community. Her knowledge and passion to combat sexual exploitation was evident and inspiring. As one of 5 staff running the Breaking Free organization in St. Paul, Joy works “to educate and provide services to women and girls who have been victims of abuse and commercial sexual exploitation (prostitution/sex trafficking) and need assistance escaping the violence in their lives.”

Using Breaking Free as a model for future response efforts in Duluth, Friedman highlighted several branches of the organization that are making it effective in bringing restoration to the lives of victims. The need for the following three programs in Duluth was emphasized, among others:

1.  Permanent and temporary housing

 Permanent housing may seem like a means of enablement, offering no incentive for victims to work and stand on their own. The reality, however, is that with only temporary housing women and girls are given a timeline for exiting a program, whether 12 months, 24 months, or longer. For many of these women it may take a good portion of  a year to begin to understand what issues they have and how to begin facing them. With healing only beginning and likely few or very basic life skills, finding a stable job and housing on her own may be daunting enough to send a recovering woman back to earning the only living she has known how to make.

2. Drop-in centers

Drop-in centers and lifelines need to be accessible and available when and where the women and girls can be found.

3.  Life skills education

 The average age of entry into prostitution in Minnesota is 14. Entering at such a young age does not afford much life experience or teaching to perform simple tasks. Friedman recounted stories from Breaking Free of fires starting because girls didn’t realize they needed to stay near the stove while cooking chicken or that is was a good idea to clean up grease and oil on the stovetop before lighting another fire. Simpler yet, some of the victims don’t recognize the need to brush teeth daily, much less how to. There must be a program to teach basic life skills as well as more advanced skills such as how to build a resume or interview for a job. 


Aside from these 3 programs, to more effectively support and care for victims of sexual exploitation and combat the industry itself, Duluth could develop other programs currently in use by Breaking Free such as women's and youth programs, a "John's school" (a program for offenders), and health/street outreach programs.

Easing the traffick jam: Duluth's emerging efforts towards combating sex slavery

For generations Duluth has heard murmurs of the women and girls rarely seen, but commonly rumored to "work the boats." These women, some as young as preteens, would be beckoned or brought on board, at times swimming out to the ships themselves, and move bunk to bunk servicing the various members of a ship's crew.  However, these claims seemed only speculations and the topic was taboo in most circles of society.  Prostitution was one issue, but slavery in Duluth's backyard was an unthinkable and uncomfortable subject to raise.


Only in recent years has the issue of sex trafficking in Duluth begun to grip the public's awareness. First, in 2009, the Minnesota statute defining sex trafficking was changed and is now defined as follows:


(1) receiving, recruiting, enticing, harboring, providing, or obtaining by any means an individual to aid in the prostitution of the individual; or


(2) receiving profit or anything of value, knowing or having reason to know it is derived from an act described in clause (1).


By these standards then, the offense prostitution can no longer be considered "one issue," but rather is very closely linked to and often one and the same with sex trafficking.


Specific to Duluth, the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) and the American Indian Community Housing Organization (AICHO) started up Duluth's own Trafficking Task Force in May of 2010, after receiving a grant from the Women's Foundation of Minnesota.


The Task Force, while open to all community members, is currently comprised of police officials, service providers, professors, students, members of faith communities, and various other professionals.  Beginning with monthly meetings, the Task Force identified four main goals to pursue in their November meeting:


1) Reframing the issue and recognizing prostitution as sexual violence against women and a violations of human rights
2) Continuing discussions of trafficking, prostitution, sex slavery, and victimization
3) Identifying system and service gaps
4) Educating the community about the issue


Since November, the Task Force itself has been restructured with the purpose of addressing the original goals more effectively.  A steering committee now meets monthly and heads up the following 7 sub-committees:


1. Outreach Advocacy/Direct Service Subcommittee
2. Community Groups (Schools/Faith Based Communities) Subcommittee
3. Systems Subcommittee
4. Political and Local Government Subcommittee
5. Greater Minnesota Subcommittee
6. Law Enforcement and Prosecution Subcommittee
7. Policy and Research Subcommittee


While many of the subcommittees seek members with knowledge specific to a particular field, the Task Force and subcommittees invite membership of individual in the community from all fields and walks of life.