Identifying human trafficking on Guam discussed at human rights conference | News

Although human trafficking on Guam can involve people who are brought here to work in the sex trade or to serve as laborers, it can also involve Guam residents pressed into modern slavery.

Flores discussed the case during the Guam Human Rights Initiative conference on human trafficking on Thursday at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa.

Another example was a woman she helped, originally from Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia, who was living on Guam and trafficked to Washington state.

She was forced to work cleaning and babysitting for a family, seven days a week with no pay.

A key indicator that this was human trafficking was the woman's passport was taken away from her when she arrived, and she was forced to sign up for food stamps which were taken from her by the family, said Flores.

But law enforcement officials have no way of knowing the scale of the problem here. Although there are individual cases, comprehensive data is lacking, according to Alicia Limtiaco, attorney at the Supreme Court of Guam and former attorney general of Guam.

This is because there is currently no central intake form or system that law enforcement or victim's advocacy groups can submit their data to.

Forcing women, men and children into the commercial sex trade is the most common form of human trafficking on island followed by labor trafficking, Limtiaco said.

Regional data for the Asia and Pacific Region in 2020 by the United Nations provided at the conference shows for sex trafficking 33% of the victims were women, 13% men, 39% girls and 15% boys.

Holly Rustic, CEO of WEGO, a consulting, grant writing and funding company, spoke during the victim's advocacy panel on laws that affect human trafficking on Guam.

Rustic said while the Guam Human Trafficking and Criminal Exploitation Act of 2009 has helped by defining human trafficking under the law, including giving victims immunity from prosecution, it has clashed with the existing Public Indecency Law. That law makes it illegal to participate in the act of prostitution.

She said further legislation is needed to clarify this issue.

DART

The Guam Police Department Domestic Assault Response Team works to ensure human trafficking victims are not mistakenly treated as co-conspirators.

“The great thing about the DART team is it takes victim advocates and puts them with police officers working on the same case,” said GPD Capt. Scott Wade. Wade said health professionals are also involved to provide victims help if they are injured.

To report human trafficking on Guam call emergency services at 911 or the organization Victim Advocates Reaching Out 24-hour hotline 671-477-5552.

More community resources can be found on the Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence website.

Co-sponsors of the conference included the University of Guam Senior Vice President and Provost's Office, the UOG Regional Center for Public Policy, the Hoover Institution, the Guam Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence, the University of Nottingham Rights Lab, the Rotary Club of Pago Bay, the Rotary Club of Tumon Bay, Project Manage Institute and the Rotary Club of Guam Sunrise Pacific Basin Group District 2750.