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Guest Editorial: It doesn't happen here … but it does

 

It doesn't happen here. We're a small town. We know our neighbors. Our kids are safe. Human trafficking doesn't happen here.

But it does. It affects people who live in our community. It is a problem. TikTok, social media and online chat groups can all influence who is in contact with you, your family and your children, but it's not just social media that drives human trafficking. It's predators preying on people, mostly women and children, who are vulnerable.

And it does happen here. In the last six months, the YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County has worked with eight local human trafficking clients. Social service agencies and agencies are actively working to help victims, prosecute abductors and keep people safe, but it's not easy work.

Since 2010, January has been recognized as Human Trafficking Month, a time when individuals, organizations and communities dedicate countless hours to raising awareness and educating the public about human trafficking. This work is particularly important in areas with high amounts of trafficking cases like Pennsylvania, which ranked 15th in the number of human trafficking cases identified by the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2021.

And that only accounts for the cases that are identified. Hundreds more go unreported.

Human trafficking cases can be difficult to identify because there are different types of trafficking, each with unique indicators and red flags. Sex and labor trafficking are the most common in Pennsylvania, with accounting for 161 out of 179 cases reported to the National Hotline. Sex trafficking involves the transportation, obtaining, patronizing or soliciting of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act by force, fraud or coercion, or a person under the age of 18 induced to perform a sex act.

Labor trafficking is defined similarly, but is subjecting a person to involuntary servitude and labor, peonage, or slavery. Victims may be lied to, assaulted, threatened or manipulated into working under inhumane or illegal conditions.

The signs of these two types of trafficking rarely look like the sensationalized versions we see in movies that involve young women being abducted by strangers during trips abroad. Traffickers don't often target or abduct people they don't know to physically hold and exploit them. Most victims are trafficked by someone they know or trust, and it is much more common for a trafficker to use psychological means to lure, recruit, groom and then control the victim. This is particularly common in cases of when the victim's trafficker is one or multiple members of their family.

Though children are rarely portrayed as trafficking victims in the fictional accounts we see on screen, in 2021, the Federal Human Trafficking Report identified 55% of victims in criminal human trafficking cases in Pennsylvania were minors. Younger victims are often unable to comprehend or identify indicators of trafficking because these behaviors have been normalized for them from a very early age, and family members who are perpetrators rely on this compliance and familial loyalty of their victim to keep them from reporting to other adults in their lives.

This sense of loyalty comes into play outside of familial trafficking, too. Many victims are manipulated into believing they are in love with their trafficker, perhaps someone they met on social media or online. In fact, one of the red flags for sex trafficking is someone you've just met – possibly online – giving immediate gifts, money or expensive items, while trying to isolate you from family or friends.

In cases of labor trafficking, the signs look a little different. Too good to be true jobs offering pay and opportunities that don't align with the skill level or experience. Victims of labor trafficking are pressured by their employer to stay in a job they want to leave, because they may not have control of their passport, visa or driver's license. They may be living and working in dangerous, inhuman or isolated conditions with little access to support systems or people outside of their working environment.

What can we do? The YWCA of Carlisle & Cumberland County regularly works with school personnel, workers, police departments and other social service/advocacy agencies to raise awareness of the signs of human trafficking, and what makes certain populations more vulnerable. This type of education is crucial, because misinformation often clouds judgment on what trafficking actually looks like.

On an individual level, educate yourself about human trafficking and what looks like. Learn about and discuss not sharing personal information with people who may be misrepresenting themselves. Understand the vulnerabilities specific to children. Encourage open lines of communication early with the children in your life, talk about how they can recognize uncomfortable situations, and ask about what their online interactions are like. Make yourself aware of red flags and reach out to law enforcement or the YWCA if something seems like a red flag.

“If you see something say something” applies to human trafficking too, because it does happen here.

Maddie Young is the president and CEO of YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County.

 

EYES ON TRAFFICKING

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.

 

EYES ON TRAFFICKING

This “Eyes on Trafficking” story is reprinted from its original online location.

ABOUT PBJ LEARNING

PBJ Learning is a leading provider of online human trafficking training, focusing on awareness and prevention education. Their interactive Human Trafficking Essentials online course is used worldwide to educate professionals and individuals how to recognize human trafficking and how to respond to potential victims. Learn on any web browser (even your mobile phone) at any time.

More stories like this can be found in your PBJ Learning Knowledge Vault.