International Justice Mission

While one of the main purposes of this blog is to raise awareness of sex trafficking in our own backyards, I nevertheless want to highlight the work of an incredible organization, the International Justice Mission.  Sex trafficking and other forms of slavery are huge problems across the globe, and IJM is at the forefront of working to stop it.

Headquartered in D.C., IJM has 14 field offices around the world, in parts of Asia, Africa, and Central America, as well as regional offices in Canada and Europe.  Through countries’ legal systems, IJM works for immediate rescue of victims of sex trafficking, slavery, and other forms of violent oppression, while also providing aftercare for these men, women, and children.

A few of the many things I love about IJM:  90% of its employees are nationals of the countries in which they work (thereby building up local economies); IJM does its work within the context of the legal and justice systems, while also working to reform unjust systems and restore rights to citizens; it doesn’t just stop at rescuing victims, but seeks to equip them to rebuild their lives in freedom while also providing for their emotional and physical needs.

Triad Ladder of Hope

Triad Ladder of Hope Ministry, in the Greensboro, NC, area, was started several years ago as a faith-based organization “dedicated to the eradication of the exploitation, sale, and enslavement of men, women, and children.”  Working in the areas of awareness, rescue, restoration, and re-entry, Triad Ladder of Hope is partnering with a number of local and statewide organizations to achieve its mission.

TLH is currently working towards a goal of opening a shelter where trained staff will help restore victims through counseling and assistance and empower these men and women to re-enter society.

There are a number of ways to get involved through TLH, including volunteering in an awareness campaign, donating items or giving financially, attending training, and organizing local fundraisers.  If you live in the Triad area, there are also prayer meetings each Monday.

Triad Ladder of Hope is offering another way to give: victim partnerships.  With just $30/month, you can provide a victim of trafficking with needed services, including shelter, food, clothing, medical care, counseling, legal assistance, job training, and English language classes. 

A sobering fact I learned while looking through this organization’s resources:  Human trafficking is the fastest-growing crime in the world, and the #2 crime in the United States.  In other words, the problem is only getting worse.

Visit their website for more information or find TLH on Facebook. 

Internet and Sex Trafficking: What Every Parent Needs to Know

Gwinnett County in metro Atlanta is starting a new program - Operation Escape Key - to alert the community to the issues of Internet and the dangers it poses to our children in regards to sex trafficking.

To read this very informative article click here.

(another guest post by Christy)

WAR: Women at Risk

WAR International was established in 2006 with a mission to unite and educate women and children in the areas of human trafficking and sexual slavery.  Founded in Michigan, today WAR International has representatives in 16 states and projects in 14 different countries.   The mission has expanded to include other areas of risk for women, including (to name a few) substance abuse, natural disasters, disease, and self image.

I cannot possible do a good job of outlining all the wonderful things they do, so I encourage you to check out their website. 

Some of the ways you can help include hosting a jewelry party or pajama party, becoming a risk coach, and extending microloans, but there are many more opportunities to get involved.  All of the beautiful gifts and products available on the website were made by disadvantaged women or those rescued from traffickers and now employed with dignity. 

In the News

For decades, law enforcement agencies have tried to combat prostitution by focusing (and thereby arresting and punishing) the prostitutes, instead of the johns who use them or the pimps who sell and exploit them.

The Human Trafficking Task Force in Orange County, CA, one of 42 such federally funded task forces across the country, is trying to change that.  Local law enforcement leaders and the FBI are finally going after the pimps--the people who coerce and force girls and women into sex trafficking.  By arresting one pimp, officers can free at least three to four girls, and because pimping carries a mandatory 3-year sentence in California, these rescued girls are given a chance at freedom.  Partnering with local nonprofits and service agencies, the task force also works to help these girls and women rebuild their lives, giving them choices for the first time in years, and the opportunities and resources to create their own futures.

More from CNN's Freedom Project:  http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/09/pimps-feed-on-twisting-californian-dream/?hpt=hp_c1

For more information on the FBI's human trafficking initiatives and the various task forces across the country, visit Innocence Lost. 

World Relief Durham: Reflect and Respond

For those of you living in the Triangle, World Relief Durham is hosting an event THIS Saturday, August 13, from 9-11 am at Church of the Good Shepherd.  Here you can find out more about what is being done in the community to fight sex trafficking, and afterwards there will be a time of prayer.

World Relief is a faith-based organization working with local communities in the U.S. and around the world to serve the most vulnerable.  In the Triangle, World Relief Durham works primarily with two groups: refugees who need resettlement here and foreign-born victims of human trafficking in North Carolina.

WR is combating trafficking through education and case management.  You can find more information about how to help on their website; some of these opportunities include education and advocacy, as well as assistance.

You can also find more information on World Relief’s efforts in NC on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Relief-Durham/144219155609468?sk=wall

Prostitution and Sex Trafficking

There is often a distinction made in the media between girls or women who are “trafficked” into the sex trade (i.e., kidnapped and forced) and prostitutes who “choose” to engage in “sex work.”  Every so often, an “escort” will come forward, usually anonymously, and paint a pretty picture on the business of sex.  High-profile clients and glamorous functions try to make this prostitution sound different and better and classier than, say, prostitution that takes place in brothels or out of back doors.  These stories try to promote freedom and choice, arguing that women ought to be allowed to choose to trade their bodies for money.  But is it ever really a choice?  Does any little girl, at the age of 4, say she wants to grow up to be a prostitute?

Sex trafficking most specifically refers to people who are moved across borders for the purpose of being sold for sex.  It often carries with it connotations of kidnapping and physical violence.  But victims of sex trafficking are not always physically forced; they are often tricked or coerced with no way out.  The absence of physical violence doesn’t make the abuse any less real.

One study in Europe showed that 95% of trafficking victims experienced symptoms of trauma similar to those experienced by torture survivors.

And despite the distinction between trafficking and “sex work” often made in the press, the UN, in its Palermo Protocol, states that exploitation in the form of prostitution is a human rights violation.  It also states that the consent of the victim is irrelevant.

In other words, all prostitution is in some way sex slavery.  Or at least, it should be considered so.

Why? Consider this...

The majority of female prostitutes enter prostitution as children.

Almost all women in prostitution want to exit.

Typically, prostituted women are some of the most disenfranchised in society.  In other words, a choice made out of desperation can hardly be called a choice at all.

Most women and children in prostitution are at some point abused and raped.

Whatever rosy words of freedom of choice are pasted on it, prostitution is still an ugly business, with local industry often fueled by sex trafficking, both national and international. 

It’s never ok.  It’s not what we as a society should ever want or even allow for the world’s women—who are all somebody's daughter...and who were all once 4-year old little girls with dreams of their own.

Source: http://action.web.ca/home/catw/attach/PRESSPACKgeneric12-06.pdf