316 – Government Agencies as Equippers and Influencers Against Trafficking

This episode is brought to you by Vanguard University and the Global Center for Women and Justice, who offer an incredible anti-human trafficking certificate. Whether you're a frontline responder, a social worker, in the ministry, a healthcare provider, or simply a community member who wants to help, this program is built for you. Head over to gcwj.org/ahtc to take the next step and apply today. ---Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Kirsten Foot as the two discuss the role that government agencies play in equipping and influencing others against trafficking. Kirsten Foot Kirsten Foot, PhD, is the CEO and Executive Director of Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST) which educates employers to prevent  human trafficking, and provides pathways to safe employment for trafficking survivors. BEST offers employers consulting on anti-trafficking strategy development and implementation, video-based and in-person training services, and advisement on communicating about human trafficking with employees, customers, vendors and the public. Kirsten Foot was also a guest on Episode #111 and Episode #310 of the Ending Human Trafficking podcast.  Key Points To prevent human trafficking, the act and crime must be made more costly to traffickers, more expensive financially, and have higher risks and consequences so that they can no longer benefit from it.  BEST aims to drive trafficking out of businesses and the same strategy can be applied in the public sector to help public sector employers drive traffickers off of public property, agencies, and infrastructures. Government agencies have the power to do all of these things, and in turn, make trafficking harder and hurtful to traffickers rather than easy and beneficial.  It is important that businesses cross-train their employees and equip them to observe and report labor trafficking.  It’s important for management of a government agency to be trained as well, in order to support their front-line employees and provide a clear protocol for when a potential case of trafficking is identified.  Government agencies have the power to influence not only residents of the county they’re based in, but many other types of organizations by encouraging businesses that they work with, providing awareness-raising materials, and encouraging leaders to learn and contribute.  Resources EHT #111 EHT #310 NCMEC Ports of Freedom Not Alone Campaign Be the One Campaign BEST Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Transcript Sandra Morgan 0:14 You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast at Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice. This is episode #316: Government Agencies as Equippers and Influencers Against Trafficking, My name is Sandie Morgan and this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Kirsten Foot is back today to discuss how government agencies leverage tools and strategies developed by Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking, the organization she leads to counter human trafficking. Kirsten has a Ph. D. She’s CEO and Executive Director of BEST, Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking, and she leads their initiatives to educate employers to prevent human trafficking, and provide pathways to safe employment for trafficking survivors. BEST offers employer consulting on anti-trafficking strategy development and implementation, video based and in-person training, services, and advisement on communicating about human trafficking with employees, customers, vendors and the public. Kirsten has been a guest on episode #111, and episode #310. Kirsten welcome back. Kirsten Foot 2:01 Thank you, Sandie, it is always good to talk with you. I learn things in our conversations too, I’m just excited to have this chance. Sandra Morgan 2:09 So I’ve been trying to reconsider the approach that I take to educating my community, and from the beginning of the podcast, a lot of my goals were designed around providing resources. But as I kind of lean into this new season, I want to understand better the “why”, and my students can look up the “what”, they Google it before I can get it out in my classroom, but the “why”, that is the message. So I want to start today with the “why” for BEST, particularly in the context of serving government agencies. Kirsten Foot 3:03 Well, glad to have the chance to speak to that. It’s a big question, but it’s actually relatively simple. Because if we grasp the fact that human trafficking is ultimately a crime of greed, it’s human rights violation, it’s exploitation in so many ways, but the “why” of human trafficking: Why do people traffic other people? it’s greed. Because they profit from it. Then that means that our efforts to prevent it need to be dedicated to making the activity of human trafficking much more costly to the traffickers, more expensive financially, more difficult, more risky for them. It’s simply too easy. So prevention needs to be thought about as making it much harder for traffickers, and government agencies have such a strong role to play in that. Often, I think people think, “Well, you know, government agencies and trafficking, it’s law enforcement.” That’s what government does, that’s the main thing government does and law enforcement is absolutely essential in countering human trafficking. And so are our government-provided social services. So much of the support for survivors of human trafficking comes from government sources in the federal acts, and other state resources. It’s never enough, but there is government funding for survivors. But my emphasis in my position within BEST is looki...