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You're listening to our civil rights show and this is your host Pamela Clark. There are many civil rights or civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to vote, freedom against unwarranted searches of your home or your property, freedom to have a fair court trial, freedom to remain silenced and a free interrogation. And then there are rights that take away all of those things from people, so like the slavery and human trafficking and so forth, where the people under those things, they have no rights at all. So that's why we're talking about them.
And we're going to talk more about each of those civil liberties and others as well as we work our way through this show. Today we're going to talk about and start getting into human trafficking. The information that I'm going to share with you is from humantraffickinghotline.org. They have a download on there for human trafficking in American schools.
We're going to start with it first because new heights after all is an organization that is education, not at its heart. So, and we work with a lot of families of school-aged children. And a lot of times people don't understand that it can even happen at schools or through schools. And sometimes there's even school officials and teachers that are part of the human trafficking network.
I mean, there's good and bad and everywhere and every place. And people target certain places where they know there'll be kids just to reach them. So we're going to get right into it. And what I'm going to share with you first is taken from is a report written under the US Department of Education, grant number Q184L070139 by Genae LaTrell of the Grossmount Union High School District.
And Eve Burch served as the grant monitor. This report was designed by the US Department of Education under contract EDESE120035 with American Institutes for Research Inc. Rita Fuhle-Moss served as the contracting of officers representative for the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning, environments, technical assistance centers, and so forth. I'm going to read the whole thing.
But again, you know where I got it from. It's free. This was free for you to access as well. They do have a bulleted page with different topics, but I'm going straight to the introduction.
President Barack Obama in September 25th of 2012 said our fight against human trafficking is one of the great human rights causes of our time and the United States will continue to lead to it in partnership with you. The change we seek will not come easy, but we can draw strength in the movements of the past where we know that every life saved in the words of the great proclamation is an act of justice worthy of the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. Human trafficking is a modern slavery. It involves exploiting a person through force, fraud, coercion, for a purpose of forced labor, commercial sex, or both.
Victims of human trafficking include women, men, boys, girls, transgender individuals lured by the promise of a better life in the United States and adults and children who were born and raised in the United States. The International Labor Organization estimated in 2012 that children represented 26 percent or 5.5 million of the 20.9 million victims worldwide. Both US citizens and foreign national children are trafficked for sex and labor in the United States. In fact, many child victims of human trafficking are students in an American school system.
School administrators and staff need to be aware that cases of child trafficking are being reported in communities throughout the nation. No community, urban, rural, or suburbian, or school or social economic group, or student demographic is immune. Few crimes are more abhorrent than child trafficking and few crimes are more challenging for communities to recognize and address. For many people, the reality of trafficking in their community is difficult to comprehend, let alone confront.
For educators, the school personnel, the reality of these crimes, and severity of their impact are calls and a call for action. Schools can and should be safe havens for students and even more so for some students whose lives are otherwise characterized by instability and lack of safety or security. In these cases, school personnel are uniquely well positioned to identify and report suspected abuse and connect students to services, actions that can prevent trafficking and even save lives. Everyone who is part of the school community, administrators, teachers, bus drivers, maintenance personnel, food service staff, resource officers, and other school community members has the potential to be an advocate for child victims of human trafficking.
But first, school community members must learn the indicators of the crime, its warning signs and how to respond when a student is an apparent victim. Though they play a crucial role, school personnel cannot and should not address these complex issues alone. Effectively responding to child trafficking demands increased awareness and a clearly defined course of action supported by collaboration with Child Protective Services, law enforcement, social services and community-based service providers. Finding mental health support shouldn't leave you feeling more lost.
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That's CAMH.ca.ca. This guide was developed to help school officials understand how human trafficking impacts schools, recognize indicators of possible child trafficking, develop policies, protocols, and partnerships to address and prevent the exploitation of children. Child sex trafficking. When a child or a person under 18 years of age is induced to perform a commercial sex act proving forish fraud or coercion against a child's pimp, it's not necessary for the offense to be characterized as human trafficking.
There are no exceptions to this role. No cultural or socioeconomic rationalizations may prevent the rescue of children from sexual servitude. The use of children in the commercial sex trade is prohibited both under U.S. law and by statute in most countries around the world.
Sex trafficking has devastating consequences for minors including long-lasting physical and psychological trauma, disease including HIV and AIDS, drug addiction, unwanted pregnancy, malnutrition, social ostracizing, I guess you'd say, and even death. Each victim has a different experience but experiences often share common threads due to the nature of the crime. Trafficking victims live under the control of their trafficker subject to fear and abuse and denial of their basic human rights. Did you know that one out of eight endangered runaway uses likely a victim of human trafficking?
That's from the National Center for Missing and exploited children. Child labor trafficking. Labor trafficking or forced labor can take many forms which can include bonded labor or decked bondage where a child incurs a debt he or she is never able to pay off or involuntary domestic servitude where a child is forced to work in someone's house or home for long hours with little or no pay. Although children may legally engage in certain forms of work, they are legal prohibitions and widespread condemnation against forms of slavery or slavery like practices and yet these practices continue to exist as manifestations of human trafficking.
A child can be a victim of labor trafficking regardless of the location of the non-consensual exploitation. Some indicators a possible forced labor of a child includes situations in which the child appears to be in the custody of a non-family member who requires the child to perform work that financially benefits someone outside the child's family and does not offer the child the option of leaving. In the United States labor trafficking often occurs in the context of domestic service, agricultural work, pedaling and hospitality industries like restaurants and hotels. Traffickers manipulate victims into working long hours in substandard conditions for little or no ages.
Peddling is a prevalent yet lesser known form of child labor where children sell cheap goods such as candy magazines and other trinkets often going door to door or standing on street corners or in parks regardless of weather conditions and without access to food, water or facilities. Like victims of sex trafficking labor trafficking victims are kept in bondage. They're a combination of fear intimidation, abuse, psychological controls. It is important to remember that child victims of labor trafficking also may be sexually abused or simultaneously victims of sex trafficking.
Deconstructing perceptions in a victim-centered approach. Until recently the trafficking of children in the United States has been clouded by a lack of awareness and exacerbated by stigma and denial. Now communities are beginning to familiarize themselves with the nature of crime and to train law enforcement and legal and social service providers on how to protect victims and serve their needs. Child trafficking is child abuse and properly understanding this reality allows educators and law enforcement and social service providers to minimize judgment, provide services, prevent revictimization and focus on the safety and well-being of the boy girl or transgender individual.
With the passage of the Trafficking Victim Protection Act, TVPA of 2000, the trafficking of children of sex and labor was criminalized with the crucial caveat that anyone under age 18 who was induced to perform a commercial act as a victim of child sex trafficking, regardless of whether forest fraud or corrosion was involved. Unfortunately, local practice and policy sometimes treats the exploited minor in a human trafficking incident where sex is engaged in for profit as a perpetrator of the crime rather than as a victim. It is a contradiction that public outrage occurs when an eighth grader is molested by a family friend and yet, if that same adolescent is sexually abused by a stranger who pays for the sex act, the community often wrongfully perceives the act as willing criminal prostitution. The law recognizes that children cannot give meaningful consent to such a crime.
Educators must remember that a child involved in prostitution should always be treated as a victim and that the criminal responsibility rests on the trafficker. Not all traffickers are adults. A suburban Minneapolis high school cheerleader was arrested for allegedly recruiting and pimping a younger student by creating an online ad and driving the victim to potential customers. That was written from a Star Tribune as part of this report.
Risk factors and indicators, though there are no standard profile child trafficking victims, several risk factors are certain among certain children more susceptible. Reports indicate that traffickers often target children and youth with a history of sexual abuse, dating violence, low self-esteem and minimal social support. Runaway and homeless youth, male female transgender are at particularly high risk for becoming victims. Though some traffic youth continue living at home and attending school, there is also a strong correlation between sexually exploited youth and childhood sexual abuse.
Chronic maltreatment and neglect and otherwise unstable home environments. Research findings estimate that between 33 and 90 percent of victims of commercial child sexual exploitation have experienced these types of abuses. Evidence also suggests that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender use can be up to five times more likely than heterosexual victims of trafficking due to increased stability that comes with the feeling of rejection and alienation that are often experienced in the LGBTQ use. Possible risk factors associated with child trafficking include the following lack of personal safety, isolation, emotional distress, homelessness, poverty, family dysfunction, substance abuse, mental illness, learning disabilities, developmental delays, childhood sexual abuse, promotion of sexual exploitation by family members or peers, lack of social support.
Social workers who provide services to these victims indicate that their fillings of isolation and abandonment are often reported but that the lack of support network increase the vulnerability to trafficking. It is important to note that many teenage girls may be at risk of being recruited into the commercial sex industry simply by virtue of their normal maturing process, wanting to take risks feeling misunderstood by parents and seeking romantic relationships can increase girls' susceptibility to the recruitment tactics of sex traffickers or pimps. Findings also suggest that low self-esteem accompanies school failure for girls and the resulting sense of lack of self-worth may make them more vulnerable to the recruitment. I must say here that schools in general make people feel that way.
I mean most of the families we serve, they have children that have very low self-esteem and that was put in them mostly from the public schools. So they kind of play hand in hand and it kind of, well not kind of, you know, schools need to be completely overhauled but there's too many people that want it the way it is so it's not going to happen. So once a student is victimized identifying him or her can prove difficult for a variety of reasons. The students' reluctance to disclose the problem due to a sense of shame and fear, two, the stigma associated with forced prostitution, three, the power and control of trafficker seduction and manipulation, and four, the student's inability to recognize that he or she is a victim and therefore is unwilling to seek help.
Possible behavioral indicators of a child sex trafficking victim include but are not limited to the following, an ability to attend school on a regular basis and or unexplained absences, frequently running away from home. References made to frequent travel to other cities. Bruises are other signs of physical harm, withdrawn behavior, depression, anxiety, or fear. Lack of control over personal schedule or identification of travel documents.
Hunger, malnourishment, or inappropriate drafts based on weather conditions or surroundings. Signs of drug addiction. Coached or rehearsed responses to questions. A sudden change in its higher behavior, relationships, material possessions, like expensive items.
Uncharacteristic promiscuity and or references to sexual situations or terminology beyond age specific norms. A boyfriend or girlfriend who is noticeably older and or controlling. An attempt to conceal scars, tattoos, or bruises. A sudden change in attention to personal hygiene.
To choose, a form of branding displaying the name or moniker of a trafficker such as daddy. Hyper, arousal, or symptoms of anger, panic, phobia, irritability, hyperactivity, frequent crying, tantrums, regressive behavior, or a clinging behavior. Hyper, arousal, or symptoms of day dreaming, inability to bond with others. Inattention for forgetfulness and or shyness.
Additional behavior indicators for labor traffic include the following. Being unpaid, paid very little or paid only through tips. Being employed but not having a school authorized work permit. Being employed and having a work permit but clearly working outside the permitted hours and for students.
Owing a large debt and being unable to pay it off. Not being allowed breaks at work or being subjected to successively long work hours. Being overly concerned with pleasing an employer or deferring personal or educational decisions to a boss. Not being in control of his or her own money.
Living with an employer or having an employer listed as a student caregiver. It is hard to quit a job but not being allowed to do so. What to do if you suspect trafficking in order to build healthy learning environments, educators, and school personnel must be knowledgeable about the signs and symptoms of trafficking and ways to support disclosure and the steps to take if there is a strong suspicion of trafficking. If a school staff member or a teacher, a bus driver, administrator, counselor, cafeteria worker notices a student who's on signs of potential trafficking, the first rule is to always pay attention.
Learn about the school's policies and protocols. If the school does not have their policies and protocols, talk to the principal about, excuse me, instituting them. Share this information with school staff, administrators, school boards, and members of the community. And there's a note off to the side of here.
It says, a man from Millington, Tennessee was accused of trafficking girls as young as 15. He reportedly used a boy under the age of 18 to help recruit girls from local high schools. The boy was paid $20 for every hundred dollars that girls brought in. And that was posted on localmemphis.com.
Recruitment. Traffickers who made the male, female transgender target, vulnerable children, lured them into a forced labor and prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation. In fact, it is known that vast majority of child victims in the commercial sex industry and enforced labor are recruited and controlled by traffickers. Understanding the particular recruitment methods and how trafficking occurs in the community would greatly assist school personnel's abilities to identify potential victims.
We're going to, oh, well, gosh, we only have about six more minutes. I was going to take a commercial break, but I guess we will just keep going because time's almost up anyways. There's another side note here. It says, I didn't care about school at all.
In fact, I was so uncomfortable there. So afraid that people were talking about me telling others about what I was doing. I was constantly getting into fights. This gave me a way to keep people scared of me and get myself a suspension so that I could leave school.
Child trafficking through five or 18 years old. Traffickers may systematically target vulnerable children by frequently frequencying locations where children congregate, like malls, schools, bus, and train stations, group homes, among other locations. With the advent of social media, traffickers recruit their Facebook and other internet sites. They also use peers or classmates who befriend the target and slowly groom the child for the trafficker by bringing the child along to parties and other activities.
Often, traffickers will create seemingly loving and caring relationships with their victim in order to establish trust, dependence, and allig- um, I'm sorry, allegiance. Thus making their child target even more vulnerable. One of the most common variations of this is a romantic relationship. A trafficker often will spend time slowly isolating and convincing a child of his or her love before selling that child for sex.
The young victims are also are lured into sexual exploitation and forced labor through psychological manipulations, drugs, and or violence. Impact on the learning environment. They shared priorities and beliefs that motivate a school community have an effect on student learning achievement and behavior. A safe learning environment is proven to be imperative for overall student success and this success is sacrificed on a campus where there is exploitation and violence.
Due to the abuse of the, or to the, I'm sorry, due to the abuse associated with child trafficking, many victims experience severe physical and emotional and psychological trauma. The symptoms of trauma can impact the learning experience of students and may manifest as problematic behaviors such as aggression and truancy. Bad behavior can be a key warning sign of abuse via background and may provide a clue about possible victimization. A particular note for educators is research that is showing a correlation between the human trafficking of children and school-related problems including learning disabilities.
In order to provide or to build, I'm sorry, in order to put build healthy learning environments educators must be knowledgeable about the signs such as signs of child trafficking and the steps to take when behaviors at school are out of order. A best practice is when all members of the school campus, along with parents and community partners, have shared commitments who work together to prevent crimes and protect victims. This collaboration is critically important to student success and will lead to a safer, healthier school culture. Off to the side of this, it says, I had a feeling that my teacher knew something was wrong in my life.
I would notice her looking at me almost like she wanted to say something to me. I wanted to open up to her but I was afraid she would judge me and I was afraid that she wouldn't understand. Child sex trafficking survivor 16 years of age. Well, we're about at a time.
I still have more to share with you and we'll pick up where I left off during our next episode. I hope this is helping you. I hope it's making you think. I would like to share with you that I have had a feeling of some of this happening around where we are and I found out when I was trying to report some of the things that was happening that not even the FBI cannot come into an area without the police or the police giving permission.
I don't know who made that law here in Ohio but to investigate they have to have permission of local law enforcement. But if they're involved or if someone else in leadership is involved then of course they're not going to give them that permission which is downright scary. So I think we all have good instincts. We just need to use them and listen to them.
And here in our area, I mean Northwest Ohio, Toledo area is a high trafficking area and we really need to be paying attention. But we also need to be heard when we report it and I don't know if that's happening as efficiently as it could unfortunately. I want to remind everyone today that this show airs on Sundays by 5 pm Eastern Standard Time and then Education and the News airs Wednesdays at 6 pm Eastern Standard Time. We have lots of other topics and educational shows at radio.newhineseducation.org.
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