Health and Human Trafficking

Health-care reform has dominated policy debates. While human trafficking has not been at the front of these debates, human trafficking something. Though there are serious health consequences from trafficking itself - including STDs and STIs, broken bones, burns, malnourishment, and psychological trauma -, victims often do not have access to proper medical care until their situation becomes serious. At the same time, medical professionals may be the only person a victim does come in contact with. Service providers also need to be aware of their own mental health needs when working with victims and survivors; secondary trauma is an issue often ignored. The relationship between health issues, health-care, and human trafficking is complex and multifaceted.


Meg: Sexually transmitted diseases are drastically high among women who have been prostituted. For example, in one study done in 1994 with 68 females who had been prostituted in Minnesota for at least six months, only 15% had never contacted one of the study's focus STDs (chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes). However, women in the sex trade can be less likely to seek out treatment for a number of reasons, including inability or suspicion of outsiders and authorities. How can governments increase treatment/decrease STDs among these populations? Should a policy of decriminalizing prostitution for the prostitute, while criminalizing it for the purchaser (similar to Sweden's policy), be adopted in order to encourage more women caught in the sex trade to seek treatment? In 2009, the sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, initiated a similar policy to Sweden's by shifting resources away from arresting prostituted females (instead referring them to social services), to arresting sex purchasers. It will be interesting to see if this is a model that will be useful for the rest of the country.

Shreya: In 2003, Global AIDS Act, i.e. United States Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Act of 2003 is signed into law. This ACT requires organizations to sign a "Prostitution Pledge" to receive U.S. funding. This pledge prohibits funding to organizations that do not have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.
The Act seems to merge the terms "prostitution" and "sex trafficking". As a PLoS Medicine article points out this is not acceptable: "One of our key findings was that the merging of the terms “prostitution” and “sex trafficking” in the Global AIDS Act is not accepted as standard language or practice by the scientific literature on HIV/AIDS or by international agencies with HIV prevention programs. Trafficking in persons for any purpose is consistently seen as a criminal and human rights offense, and the subset of human trafficking related specifically to the sex industry is universally seen as among the most grievous of trafficking-related crimes. While the law calls for opposing sex trafficking, we could find no entity that did not already oppose it. The same holds true for any form of prostitution involving children or minors—this was universally acknowledged as a crime and a human rights violation before the policy. However, many organizations disagree with the Act's equation of all forms of prostitution with sex trafficking. The term prostitution itself is controversial—most groups working with persons who sell or trade sex for money use the terms “sex work” and “sex worker,” rather than “prostitute,” which is widely held to be stigmatizing and pejorative".

The goal of the pledge was to control HIV transmission by decreasing or ending prostitution, but according to most studies the pledge has had no measurable impact. Most people believe this pledge only hurts the already vulnerable population of sex workers.

Youngbee: When one thinks about health and human trafficking, the first thing that comes to his or her mind is HIV/AIDS infection. Though HIV/AIDS is a commonly known byproduct of human trafficking, especially, sex trafficking, the victims often suffer more than sexually transmitted disease. Along with sexually transmitted disease, they suffer mentally or psychologically as a result of forced prostitution or even labor exploitation. According to a research, child victims suffer depression, guilty&shame, cultural shock, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), and traumatic bonding with the traffickers. In a case of forced prostitution or prostitution alone, both child as well as adult victims suffer from PTSD, guilt and shame, difficulty in establishing a healthy relationship, and low self-esteem. Many times, victims are re-victimized in the brothels or sex industry after the rescue, if they fail to receive proper counseling treatment to recover from the trauma.

Jenn: Medical professionals and health-care workers may be the first or only people to come in contact with a trafficking victim. Doctors, nurses, emergency medical responders, and other medical professionals need to receive training on recognizing potential trafficking indicators and should be part of coordinating anti-trafficking efforts. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine provides a report on the causes of health issues in trafficking victims and the consequences of these issues, including physical, psychological, and sexual/reproductive health issues.

Polaris Project points out that health-care workers have unique opportunities to recognize the signs of trafficking, and advises that human trafficking assessment protocols should be "adapted to fit existing organizational protocols for interacting with potential victims of child abuse, violence, sexual assault and other related crimes. Health practitioners should familiarize themselves with social service providers in their area working on the issue of human trafficking and work with these agencies to create a protocol for responding to victims of trafficking." Polaris Project also provides several lists of health indicators that should be trafficking red flags and information about short and long-term effects of trafficking on health.

Elise: Over the last year, as I have worked for a service provider for survivors of human trafficking, I have come to better understand the important role of health care workers in the fight against human trafficking, both as sources for identification of victims and support for survivors. Low-income clinic workers and emergency personnel are particularly important because traffickers often withhold medical care from the victims until it becomes absolutely necessary. DHHS created an identification card as well as other training materials for health care workers.

In addition, I would submit that survivors would be better served if hospitals and medical personnel were trained not only on identification, but also on an understanding of the support system set up to assist survivors through the TVPA. I mention this specifically because even when survivors are linked with NGOs, he/she may still be considered undocumented until the service provider or law enforcement agency has been able to adjust their status as their case proceeds. Outside of emergency assistance, this time of limbo complicates the survivor's ability to receive health care services because this individual may have limited identification documents, no insurance and a limited cap on medical expenses depending on the funding or grant source of the organization. Even with the existence of MOUs or SOPs that a service provider may set up with a medical provider, staff turnover and gaps between cases may lead to unnecessary complications. Perhaps the solution lies in training mandates or curriculum in medical schools or stronger cooperation between service providers and health care facilities, but this is an extremely important service to survivors of any type of trafficking.

State-Level Human Trafficking Policy

During the 2010 legislative session, state legislators around the United States are reviewing and enacting a range of anti-trafficking laws. Though federal laws and legislation play a leading role in fighting human trafficking, state-level policy has a vital role to play in filling in gaps, addressing the local trafficking context, and increasing victim identification. Pending and proposed state legislation ranges from attempts to catch up with other states to innovative efforts.

Earlier this month, a Vermont Senate Committee began considering a bill that would make Vermont's state trafficking laws comprehensive. Currently, only sex trafficking is covered under Vermont's law; labor trafficking is ignored. Vermont is one of five states that lacks a comprehensive law.

Several states are considering legislation that would strengthen penalties for trafficking. The Utah House passed a bill that would make it a separate charge for each person someone trafficked. A California bill that has received support of many anti-trafficking NGOs would increase sentencing minimums and maximums for human trafficking, and would also include fines of up to $500,000. The bill also would mandate human trafficking training for law enforcement officers and increase measures to protect victims.

Oklahoma is also reviewing a bill that could enhance penalties for trafficking, but in a slightly different way. Senate Bill 2258, which recently was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, would increase penalties for destroying or taking someone's personal identification documents. Since traffickers often control victims through controlling victims' documentation, supporters argue this bill would help fight trafficking.

The California State Senate recently approved a bill that would require manufacturers and retailers to develop, implement, and maintain policies to help eliminate human trafficking in their supply chains. This bill takes a unique approach to anti-trafficking work by encouraging corporate responsibility. If it is successful, it could be a useful and influential model for other states.

An Oregon bill that unanimously passed the State Senate and is now headed to the Governor for final ratification aims to raise awareness and increase identification of victims. The bill would allow for stickers with the national human trafficking hotline number to be disseminated to and displayed by establishments that sell alcohol. Texas enacted a similar bill in 2007.

Polaris Project's U.S. Policy Program tracks state anti-trafficking policy efforts. The Action Center includes information on how to advocate for pending anti-trafficking legislation.

Few New York State Prosecutions Despite Law

From the New York Times:

Despite a highly trumpeted New York State law in 2007 that enacted tough penalties for sex or labor trafficking, very few people have been prosecuted since it went into effect, according to state statistics.

In New York State, there have been 18 arrests and one conviction for trafficking since the law was signed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer and took effect in November 2007, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. There is one case pending in Manhattan, one in Queens and two in the Bronx.

The situation is not very different in New Jersey or roughly 30 other states with laws against human trafficking — defined as using fraud or force to exploit a person for sex or labor. A federal law passed in 2000 with life prison penalties has resulted in 196 cases with convictions against 419 people, according to the United States Department of Justice.

The scale of those numbers contrasts starkly with the 14,500 to 17,500 people the State Department estimates are brought into the United States each year for forced labor or sex.
Prosecutors like Anne Milgram, the New Jersey attorney general, and Janet DiFiore, the Westchester County district attorney, blame a lack of training.

Police officers, they said, do not recognize signs of exploitation and do not ask the right questions at an opportune time. Eager to move a case along, the police may arrest someone for promoting prostitution rather than stiffer trafficking charges. With evidence growing stale, it can be hard to upgrade charges later on, the prosecutors said.

“It’s very reminiscent where we were 30 years ago on the domestic violence stuff,” Ms. DiFiore said. “People just don’t get it yet.”

In a typical recent case, a 22-year-old woman from Mexico said she was lured to New York by her boyfriend, who promised a waitress’s job. Instead, she said she worked for his uncle in Queens as a prostitute, servicing 10 men a night across the five boroughs for $35 to $45 a trick.
Friendless, stranded on alien streets, frightened that the police would discover she was here illegally, she felt she had no choice, said the woman, who is pregnant.

“I felt so bad, so bad,” she said, drying tears as she spoke softly with the help of a translator. “I didn’t know what I could do. I was alone.”

In July, the boyfriend was arrested after, she said, he beat her so brutally that she finally fled and sought out a stranger, who led her to the police. But he was charged only with a misdemeanor assault for domestic violence.

The Mexican woman said that had she been asked, she would have told how she had been intimidated into prostitution, but the police did not press her, and she did not volunteer anything because she was afraid the boyfriend might seek revenge against her family in Mexico. Her lawyers say they are trying to get Queens prosecutors to upgrade the charges, something prosecutors say they will consider.

The police, experts say, should be asking an immigrant prostitute whether she was forced to work the streets, whether her passport was taken away, whether she was held against her will. Training sessions on such questions have been held, including one Nov. 12 in Mount Kisco, N.Y.

“If you’re looking at a frightened immigrant woman in a brothel, it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in political science to know what you’re dealing with,” said Dorchen Leidholdt, legal director for Sanctuary for Families, a Manhattan agency for battered women that is helping the Mexican woman. She runs across many police officers who do not know that a trafficking law exists, she said.

But the police often are not helped by victims, who are “taught, trained and manipulated by their exploiters not to cooperate with nor trust law enforcement,” Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, said in an e-mail message. His office said that the Mexican woman told officials only that her boyfriend had punched her; she never mentioned prostitution.

If the right questions are asked, trafficking charges do result. In Westchester, a 21-year-old Hungarian immigrant told prosecutors she was deceived by her employer, Joseph Yannai, 65, author of a book profiling the world’s top chefs, into thinking she would be coming to Pound Ridge to be his personal assistant. But according to a criminal complaint, the job required sexual favors.

The woman escaped and her testimony resulted in charges against Mr. Yannai of sexual abuse and two counts of labor trafficking — one involving the Hungarian and another a Brazilian woman at the Yannai home. Under the new law, each labor trafficking count carries a prison sentence of three to seven years.

In their questioning, prosecutors learned, according to the complaint, that Mr. Yannai had deceived the Hungarian woman about the job, had limited her phone calls and offered her no spending money — acts that undergirded the trafficking charge. Mr. Yannai, who is awaiting trial, said the women “were free to come and go as they wished,” according to his lawyer, John D. Pappalardo.

On Tuesday, a Queens jury convicted David Brown, 32, of St. Albans, of sex trafficking and kidnapping. The Queens district attorney said it was the first conviction for sex trafficking since the 2007 law was passed.

Prosecutors said the defendant forced a woman to work for him as a prostitute for 12 days in August 2008 by threatening to beat her and cut up her body if she left his apartment. Witnesses testified that the woman was “sold” to the defendant for $2,000 by an ex-girlfriend.
Amy Siniscalchi, program director for My Sister’s Place in Westchester, a service agency working with seven trafficking victims, said “everybody in the field thinks that the crime of human trafficking is increasing.”

Jennifer Dreher, senior director of the anti-trafficking program at Safe Horizon, a domestic violence agency, said the world economic crisis had made desperate people more willing to believe employment schemes and had provided workers for massage parlors and brothels.
Those trafficking cases that have been brought illustrate how trafficking is different from run-of-the-mill crimes like promoting prostitution.

Last month, two Mexican immigrants — a husband and wife — were charged by federal authorities in Brooklyn with using physical violence — including cutting the victim with a knife, beating her with a brick, punching her and breaking her finger and nose — to force a young woman to work as a prostitute starting in April 2007.

Benton J. Campbell, the United States attorney in Brooklyn, described the case as “sex slavery.”
In the Queens case involving the Mexican woman, she said the police asked her only about visible bruises. Vivian Huelgo, another lawyer for Sanctuary for Families, faults them for not digging harder.

“A couple of different questions — is someone forcing you to have sex and is that sex for money — would take you down the road to a more serious crime,” she said.

The article has many good points, and I'm thrilled that the first conviction under New York State Law finally happened last week. Just giving my own view on the material in the article though, I think our problems run even deeper than just law enforcement and district attorneys understanding how to ask victims the right questions. I think there is an issue with police and prosecutors even understanding or believing there is a problem of trafficking in their areas. In a report entitled, Understanding and Improving Law Enforcement Responses to Human Trafficking, the authors conducted surveys among 3,000 state, local and municipal law enforcement agencies and found that, "The majority, between 73 and 77 percent, of local, county and state law enforcement in the random sample (n=1661) perceive human trafficking as rare or non-existent in their local communities." While the report provides for much more complex analysis of the results of the survey, that is a huge indication that even the best state laws will prove useless unless there is a more basic understanding of the problem of trafficking and an acknowledgment that it can happen pretty much anywhere.

Former Western New York Judge Receives Sentence

From the Buffalo News:

Ex-Justice Tills given prison term in sex case
Federal judge calls women real victims

By Phil Fairbanks and Dan Herbeck

NEWS STAFF REPORTERS

Updated: August 08, 2009, 6:36 AM

Phrases like “human trafficking” and “sex trade” bring to mind tough, brutal images that are hard to believe about anyone.

When the accused is a well-respected judge, a jurist known for tough sentences, it becomes what his own attorney acknowledged Friday is a long fall from grace.

Ronald H. Tills, 74, a retired State Supreme Court Justice, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday, becoming the first person given jail time in connection with the continuing federal probe of the Royal Order of Jesters.

“I will never forgive myself for the possible harm I’ve caused to the victims in this case,” Tills told a packed courtroom. “I’m embarrassed, and I feel terrible about the shame I’ve brought to the bench and the bar.”

In sentencing Tills, U. S. District Judge William M. Skretny referred numerous times to victims in the case and at least twice mentioned one young woman by name.

“Coco is a real victim in this case, and regrettably, she’s not the only one,” the judge said at one point.

Skretny described Coco as an illegal immigrant who barely spoke English and was sold into sexual slavery as a young woman. Coco, he added, was transported by Tills across state lines to serve as a prostitute at a Jesters convention in Kentucky.

The judge admonished Tills for victimizing a member of what he described as the most vulnerable subset of illegal aliens, “the undocumented women involved in the sex trade.”

The judge also chastised Tills for engaging in a sexual relationship with a woman who had appeared before him when he was still a judge and then recruiting her to work as a prostitute at a Jesters convention.

“I view, and I think society views, this as particularly disgraceful,” Skretny said.

He referred to Tills as a “real Jekyll and Hyde” and suggested the former judge and state assemblyman had not shown the level of remorse Skretny would have liked to have seen from him.

Tills pleaded guilty last September to a felony charge of transporting prostitutes across state lines.

He also admitted that, while still serving as a state judge, he recruited prostitutes for a number of Jesters weekend outings, known as “books.”

“He knows what he did was reprehensible,” said Terrence M. Connors, one of Tills’ lawyers. “He knows he’s disgraced that robe.”

Tills’ legal problems began in late 2007 when federal agents found out that a judge and a police captain were among the customers of a Niagara County massage parlor that hired illegal aliens to work as prostitutes.

The massage parlor probe— conducted by the Western New York Human Trafficking Task Force — led to an investigation into the Buffalo Jesters chapter and its use of prostitutes.

In urging the judge to give Tills 18 months, federal prosecutor John Rogowski told the judge his ruling would affect the public’s view of the judiciary.

Rogowski also urged the judge not to be blinded by the emotional aspects of the case and to remember that what Tills did was a serious crime.

Tills will begin his 18-month jail term on Oct. 1 at a federal prison yet to be determined.

Two other Jesters — John Trowbridge, 62, a former Lockport police captain, and Michael Stebick, 61, Tills’ former law clerk — were previously sentenced by Skretny.

Trowbridge was put on probation for two years. Stebick was given four months of home confinement and had to forfeit his motor home, which was used to transport prostitutes over state lines, to the government.

Connors, in seeking leniency from Skretny, stressed that Tills had helped federal agents with information about prostitution activities involving several other Jesters chapters in other cities.

So far, no charges have been filed against anyone outside the Buffalo chapter.

“He’s given them inner workings,” Connors said. “This group of sordid individuals, which has done what it’s done for years, has stopped. They’re out of business.”

In May, a national spokesman for the Jesters told The Buffalo News that the presence of prostitutes at Jesters gatherings is something that only the Buffalo chapter engaged in, adding that such conduct is never condoned by the national leadership.

The all-male organization — which is a division of the Freemasons— has 191 chapters with 22,000 members, mostly in the United States. The fraternal group’s members have included two U. S. presidents, politicians, entertainment figures and prominent businessmen.

Some former Jesters told The News that many Jesters chapters have engaged in wild parties with prostitutes for decades.

Tills, who previously served as a member of the State Assembly, was known by colleagues and defense attorneys as one of the region’s toughest sentencing judges before he retired from his job as a state judge in 2005.

The human trafficking task force includes investigators from the FBI, U. S. Border Patrol, U. S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, and the Erie and Niagara County sheriff’s offices.

pfairbanks@buffnews.com and dherbeck@buffnews.com

Another case that demonstrates traffickers can come from any part of society. This is a case that I feel surprisingly few people in Western New York know about; most people seemed shocked to find out that a judge had been involved in a sex trafficking case right in our community. Shock is a natural reaction to almost any trafficking case, I suppose, but at this point, I think we really need to accept the fact that traffickers and victims can have any background. Human trafficking is defined by the exploitation of the victim and the profit gained by the trafficker; not the personal identity or background of the people involved. The sooner this realization is accepted, the sooner we will be able to help more victims and put away more traffickers.

Interview: Morgan Zamora

Morgan Zamora is one of the most inspirational people that I know. I have been fortunate enough to work with her as a Regional Coordinator with Americans for Informed Democracy, a not-for-profit that works to engage college students on global issues; our focus area was human trafficking. Morgan's work to raise awareness about and combat modern-day slavery does not end there, though. This fall she will be a junior in college, and despite being so young she is already a leader in anti-trafficking work. Her dedication, passion, and talent continue to amaze me.

Zamora is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition (HRRC) in Houston, TX. She is also the president of S.W.A.T (Students Working Against Trafficking) at the University of St. Thomas. Like many anti-trafficking activists and advocates, Zamora was motivated to take action after learning that modern-day slavery exists. After attending a screening of TRADE, Zamora meet with representatives from HHRC, and she immediately wanted to begin volunteering for them.

In her role with HRRC, Zamora has worked to raise awareness and mobilize action in the Houston area. As she notes, human trafficking is extremely prevalent in the Houston Area. After volunteering with HRRC, Zamora now coordinates others who give volunteer outreach presentations to local businesses, asking them to display Rescue and Restore posters about human trafficking and trafficking hotlines. Thus far, nearly 200 business in the area are displaying the posters. Zamora also does outreach work with at-risk populations, and her student organization is planning an anti-trafficking conference. She sums up her work by saying "my work in Houston has been focused on mobilizing individuals throughout the Houston area and creating a network of active abolitionists in the city."

According to Zamora, once she has sparked an interest in someone, the main challenge is keeping their passion for the work alive. While awareness raising is important, as Zamora notes, it can be difficult to measure success or progress in this area. She also pointed out the potential dangers of anti-trafficking activism, saying that "it can sometimes be a great task within itself to continuously come up with innovative and creative new ways to be an active abolitionist in a manner that is 'safe.'" This is certainly a challenge that I can identify with, and I know we would both appreciate any ideas that people have.

As Zamora's anti-trafficking work has deepened, her perspective on the issue has also shifted and deepened. While her work still entails educating people about the fact that trafficking happens (and that it happens in the US), Zamora states "I feel now that it is even more important to focus on why [human trafficking] exists. I think the public and society needs to be more aware of the consequences of their actions in relation to promoting certain gender stereotypes and capitalistic activities. There is a reason why millions of people are being exploited around the world, and if I could shed light on that and possibly make people rethink some of their actions, then perhaps their would be less exploitation. But that may just be wishful thinking. I hope not."

In order to address trafficking around the world, Zamora argues that different cultures and regions must address the issue from their perspectives. Anti-trafficking efforts must be grounded in the local context and culture. She suggests that "Change must start within each society around the world and people must realize the effects of their actions. For example, poverty may be the overall issue involved with trafficking in Eastern Europe and India, but there are varying cultural aspects of both cultures that allow for the exploitation of women and children or men of certain socioeconomic status." At the same time, Zamora points out that efforts must include an understanding of global systems that perpetuate trafficking, and people must see that their actions have consequences beyond what they might immediately see.

Zamora ended her comments with encouragement and a challenge: "I feel that people need to be informed but then that people need to be empowered. They need to be able to believe that they can change the outcome of the system they live in. The world needs more active abolitionists, who are not only informed of the issue of human trafficking but that realize that they live in a globally connected world, and their actions within consumerism and society all effect the enslavement of people in the world or in their own city."

Western New York Trainings on Human Trafficking

Free Trainings: Recognizing Human Trafficking in Western New York

While the term “human trafficking” tends to elicit images of foreign people trapped in foreign countries, the U.S. Department of Justice recently cited over 1,200 alleged cases of human trafficking in the United States over the last two years. These statistics include cases indentified in WNY. There are few identified patterns when it comes to characteristics of victims of human trafficking. They are old and very young, foreign-born and US citizens, men and women, college students and impoverished, and are subjected to labor or sexual exploitation or both. The International Institute of Buffalo, Farmworker Legal Services of New York, and local co-sponsors in six counties are collaborating to provide a free training to participants who wish to learn about this important topic. Information will include the definition of trafficking, best practices in victim identification and services and cooperation among stakeholders to help better respond to this issue locally.

The next training will be:

Chautauqua County

When: Monday, March 30, 2009, 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Horizon Room, Williams Center, SUNY Fredonia
280 Central Ave, Fredonia, NY 14063
Who: Intended audience includes government and social service providers, educational staff, medical personnel, religious and cultural groups, legal assistance providers and victim advocates.

Sponsored by International Institute of Buffalo, Farmworker Legal Services, and the Women’s Studies Program at SUNY Fredonia.

RSVP with name, title, and organization by March 16, 2009
716.883.1900 ext. 326 or tassistant1@iibuff.org

Please inform and encourage others that may find this training useful. In the next four months, similar trainings will also be held in the counties of Wyoming, Orleans, and Allegany. Please call or email for more details on future trainings.

OVC Web Forum on Labor Trafficking

This week, the Office for Victims of Crimes hosted a live web forum for victim service providers on labor trafficking. The Forum's guest hosts included Florrie Burke, the cochair of the Freedom Network (USA), a national network of service providers, attorneys, and other advocates who work with trafficked and enslaved persons and provide regional trainings throughout the country, and Katherine Kaufka, the executive director of the International Organization for Adolescents, and previously managed the counter-trafficking project at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

Guests were allowed to submit questions and the hosts provided answers. Many of the questions and answers were quite specific to people working directly in victims services, however the forum is available to anyone to look at. With the permission of the OVC, here are some of the questions and answers.

Are statistics related labor trafficking available?

All statistics related to human trafficking are subject to interpretation. It has been difficult for researchers to get accurate numbers as the numbers are pulled from a variety of sources. Most of us think there are much higher numbers of trafficked persons than recorded. Many cases of labor trafficking are not recognized as such because investigators might not screen for trafficking, but look for labor violations or documents of residency only. Look at the reports from the ILO, the DOL, and other government reports to get some idea of the numbers being used. -Florrie Burke

Are statistics even accurate? Other than cases identified through the police involvement, what are the statistics based on?

Statistics are also gathered from Dept. of Justice --they count prosecutions. Health and Human Services counts certified victims, Vermont Service Center counts T Visas issued. For survivors who don't access these services or follow up on legal and immigration remedies--no count! -Florrie Burke

Particularly in labor cases, it is likely that law enforcement will encounter male victims. Since historically most victims of human trafficking are female (in my experience), I'm curious as to what you view as any special considerations for male trafficking victims. Thanks.

Please also look at a previous response about the differences with sex trafficking and labor trafficking survivors. I am glad you asked the question as male victims are often overlooked. They have issues of responsibility to family back home (females do also) and they have often suffered severe shame for being duped into a situation. This occurs with women too, but the effects often show up differently. Male victims do well if they are able to learn about the law and about their rights. They are often not comfortable receiving social services, but do have practical needs that must be attended to. Engaging them as full partners with a lot of control over their service plan is helpful. Finding emergency housing is a challenge and we need to be careful to avoid putting them in danger (homeless shelters.) Many male survivors have been able to become advocates and labor activists as a way to cope with their situation. I do not in any way mean to impart a sexist response here. I used some generalizations. I do, however, see differences in a response to male survivors. Cultural considerations are key. -Florrie Burke

To add to the previous comments, I think because of the perception that victims are usually female, boys and men sometimes get overlooked. I've worked with boys who encountered several first responders (i.e. local law enforcement, federal law enforcement, govt agency, service provider, etc.)before being identified as a victim of human trafficking. -Katherine Kaufka

What changes, if any, would you like to see happen on the Federal level regarding this topic? Do you think Obama being in office will make a difference?

On that note, I heard that a new TVPA was signed just recently. Do you see any issues that might come up with the new one?

We see advances already being made since the recent reauthorization of the federal law. President Obama has rescinded a previous directive that prohibited any agency receiving federal funds in other countries from working on reproductive rights. This is helpful for those NGOs in source and transit countries to do their prevention work on human trafficking. There needs to be better accountability, more transparency and more attention to the issue here in the U.S. and we are hopeful it will happen with the new administration. -Florrie Burke

The TVPRA 2008 was signed into law in Dec 2008. It provides enhancements for victim protections, greater transparency and accountability re funding, and sentencing enhancements (plus more - too much to type)! I hope that this administration will uphold enhancements to the TVPA, and keep agencies responsible for various provisions of the Act accountable. -Katherine Kaufka

'Naked facts' help combat human trafficking in Serbia

From the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe:

On 5 June, a new kind of public awareness campaign to fight human trafficking was launched by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and its local partner ASTRA, a non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to the cause.

This summer's 'Naked Facts' campaign encourages people to be cautious and aware, and to report any trafficking cases they may know something about.
Since 2001, the OSCE Mission has been helping the country to prevent people from falling prey to traffickers. It has supported the development of a national strategy to combat human trafficking as well as a victim protection mechanism, and has been working intensively with various groups of professionals in their efforts to fight trafficking.

'Naked Facts'

But what makes this campaign stand out are its visuals. "To draw attention to the cause and to challenge the cliché that naked women are an acceptable part of marketing, the images show seven well-known Serbian men who are almost naked," says the Mission's Acting Spokesperson, Ivana Jovanovic.

The men featured on the posters, billboards and TV spots are Zeljko Bodrozic, a well-known journalist, Jugoslav Cosic, a TV presenter and journalist known for his uncompromising attitude towards scandals in Serbia, and Dejan Anastasijevic, known for his investigative writing on both organized crime and war crimes.

Also shown are Milutin Petrovic, the campaign's director, Ivan Tasovac, director of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Branislav Lecic, actor and former Minister of Culture in Zoran Djindjic's Government, and Vukasin Markovic, actor and front man of a popular Serbian reggae band.

Not just a country of transit

"Serbia has predominantly been a country of transit for victims of human trafficking," says Madis Vainomaa, the Mission's Human Rights Programme Co-ordinator. "In recent years, however, it has become mainly a country of origin, with most victims being trafficked internally.

"In 2007, the State Agency for the Coordination of Protection of Victims of Trafficking identified 60 trafficking cases, including 51 women, 9 men and 26 children.

"The cases identified so far in 2008 also confirm the disturbing fact that Serbia has an increasing number of child victims. Most are cses of sexual exploitation, but forced labour and forced begging are also found."

Previous awareness campaigns have led to an increase in the number of calls to ASTRA's SOS hotline, and as a result, more trafficking victims have been identified and assisted in the last six years.

"Campaigns have been successful in the past," says ASTRA President Marija Andjelkovic, "but their long-term effect depends on the political climate. It is important for the authorities to continuously acknowledge that human trafficking is one of the most profitable organized crimes and that they must do everything possible to tackle it."

Reaching out at the right time

The campaign, which will run until the end of the year, includes TV spots and accompanying radio jingles that will be broadcast in June and September 2008, when young people, for instance, set out to look for seasonal jobs or go on vacation. In addition, billboards and posters will be displayed in selected cities around Serbia.

Leaflets will be distributed to schools, encouraging younger people to be cautious of job, education and travel offers, and advising them to contact ASTRA for free advice. They can, for example, get a background check on particular job ads. The flyers will also explain who could be human traffickers, who are at risk of becoming victims and what they can do to protect themselves.
"Through previous campaigns, the Serbian public has become familiar with the problem, and both citizens and the state seem generally less tolerant of violence then a few years ago," says Andjelkovic. "With this campaign we want to stress that at the beginning of the 21st century we cannot tolerate any form of slavery.

"We need to remind them that women are not meat, children are not slaves and people are not a commodity. These are just the naked facts."