Human Trafficking

Monday, March 23 rd SWBAT define the term human trafficking and explore the various forms of trafficking for children and adults Do Now: What conclusions can be drawn from this image

What is Human Trafficking? According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as: …the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs

Key Statistics The International Labor Organization estimates that there are 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally, including 5.5 million children. 55% are women and girls. In 2013, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, operated by Polaris, received multiple reports of human trafficking cases in all 50 states and D.C. The International Labor Organization estimates that forced labor and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide. There is no official estimate of the total number of human trafficking victims in the U.S. With 100,000 children estimated to be in the sex trade in the United States each year, it is clear that the total number of victims nationally reaches into the hundreds of thousands when estimates of both adults and minors and sex trafficking and labor trafficking are aggregated.

Human trafficking generates $9.5 billion yearly in the United States. (United Nations) Approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in the United States. (U.S. Department of Justice) The average age of entry into prostitution for a child victim in the United States is years old. (U.S. Department of Justice) A pimp can make $150,000-$200,000 per child each year and the average pimp has 4 to 6 girls. (U.S. Justice Department, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) The average victim may be forced to have sex up to times a day. (Polaris Project) Fewer than 100 beds are available in the United States for underage victims. (Health and Human Services) Department Of Justice has identified the top twenty human trafficking jurisdictions in the country:” Houston El Paso Los Angeles Atlanta Chicago Charlotte Miami Las Vegas New York Long Island New Orleans Washington, D.C. Philadelphia Phoenix Richmond San Diego San Francisco St Louis Seattle Tampa (Department of Justice) One in three teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. (National Runaway Hotline)

U.S. Human Trafficking Law The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 is the first comprehensive federal law to address trafficking in persons. The law provides a three- pronged approach that includes prevention, protection, and prosecution. The TVPA was reauthorized through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2013.

For the Record

What’s the holdup on Trafficking bill? At issue in the legislation, which had been expected to glide through the Senate with bipartisan support, is a provision — backed by Republicans and initially overlooked by Democrats — that would prohibit a new trafficking-victims compensation fund from being used for abortions save for exceptions covered by the Hyde Amendment. The new fund created for trafficking victims would be subject to the same restrictions that currently prevent the public Medicaid program from using federal dollars to finance abortion coverage. Democrats didn’t like the application of Hyde restrictions to funds that are not taxpayer dollars — the compensation fund was to be drawn from criminal fines — and they objected to the anti-abortion provision being in place for five years.