Berkeley County proclaims January Human Trafficking Awareness Month

Before Berkeley County Council began business as usual last week, council took a moment to stop and recognize a daily fight for justice – proclaiming January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

On Jan. 9, council presented the proclamation to members of the Charleston County Public Safety team, Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force (HTTF) and Dorchester Children's Advocacy Center.

“Human beings are created with dignity; we are not commodities,” Tri-County HTTF Chair Brooke Burris said. “Everyone has a role to play in standing for this value.”

The two main types of human trafficking are sex and labor trafficking. The United States Congress, according to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017, states “Sex trafficking as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age. Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”

In 2022, S.C. Attorney General's Office reported 124 human trafficking cases with likely 277 victims. This included a 450% increase in labor trafficking victims, a 44% increase of Latinx victims, a person of Latin American origin or descent and 128% increase in use of the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

S.C. Law Enforcement Division supported 416 cases involving human trafficking in the Palmetto State last year. The cases included 399 minor victims and 17 adults. They led four commercial sex operations to combat human trafficking in regions around the state, resulting in the arrest of 13 sex buyers.

Last year, the S.C. General Assembly appropriated $1.7 million in recurring funds to the S.C. Attorney General Office's Human Trafficking Task Force. The funds will be used in the prevention of the crime, support to state subcommittees and regional task forces, the development of a data collection system and its ongoing use, prosecution of human trafficking cases, multi-sector training and public awareness.

“Berkeley County is committed to protecting its citizens from the horrific and inhumane crimes associated with human trafficking,” Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb said. “We support any and all efforts to raise awareness and advocate for those who do not have the ability to protect themselves.”

To report suspected human trafficking, contact local law enforcement to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, text 233733 or submit a tip at humantraffickinghotline.org/en/report-trafficking.