Diana Scimone

Child trafficking--it's as close as your cell phone

Want to buy a child?

Want to sell one?

Just pick up your cell phone and click away.

Mobile phones and devices are regularly used to traffic children for sex in the US, according to The Rise of Mobile and the Diffusion of Technology-Facilitated Trafficking. 

The report was produced by the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.  

“Increasingly, the business of human trafficking is taking place online and over mobile phones,” says CCLP research director Dr. Mark Latonero. “Mobile devices allow traffickers to expand their criminal networks in new ways."

Adds Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, “Human trafficking has moved from the streets to online. It is easier, less risky and more profitable."

Some good news

But as traffickers increase their use of technology, that same technology "can be used to target traffickers, reach vulnerable communities, and raise public awareness," says Latonero.

I've seen some of this technology in meetings with law enforcement, and it's astounding.

And look what creative app designers came up with in Colombia: If someone sees a child working illegally, they can take a picture with their phone and log the location, which the app sends to the country's child welfare agency.

Trafficking and social media

Cell phones are not the only digital channels that make exploiting children just a few clicks away. Others include social networking sites like Facebook, as CNN reported this week on Pimps hit social networks to recruit underage sex workers. 

Of course, if you read this blog regularly, you already knew that 5 months ago :-) when you read my report, Parents, please wake up.

 

Is there child trafficking in your state? (Yes)

After 7 years working to stop child trafficking, I'm still amazed by how many Americans don't know it's happening in their own states and cities. So I'm going to take a few posts to report on trafficking in the US. (Apologies to my international readers.)

Today Shared Hope International released their end-of-year state-by-state Report Card on trafficking in the US.

Click on the map to read about the efforts to stop child trafficking in your state:

IMPORTANT: This is NOT a report on how bad child trafficking is in each state because it's bad in ALL states. This is a report on each state's efforts to get rid of child trafficking within and across their borders.

Sometimes my Twitter feed sounds like it's a contest with tweet after tweet about whose state is worst. There's absolutely no way to quantify which state is worst--and it doesn't matter one bit.

The point is that child trafficking happens everywhere in the US. Yes, in your city. Yes, in your schools.

Shared Hope International and the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) analyzed each state's laws and then created a national standard of protection against domestic minor sex trafficking or DMST (that is, trafficked US citizens who are underage). This national standard is called the Protected Innocence Legislative Framework.

A year ago Shared Hope issued a challenge to each state to improve their laws to fight DMST. Here's what happened in 2012 as a result:

• 240 state and 38 federal bills were introduced that relate to DMST.
• 78 laws were passed that relate to DMST.
• 40 states introduced legislation that relates to the Protected Innocence Framework.
• 33 states enacted legislation related to the Protected Innocence Framework.

Pretty awesome. You can read specifics here about new efforts to criminalize DMST -- for sellers and buyers (not the children themselves). It's hard to believe that some of those old laws were ever on the books, but they were.

Kudos to Shared Hope and ACLJ for their excellent work to stop DMST in the US. More helpful links from Shared Hope:

Track legislation in your state

Contact your legislator

Send a letter about trafficking to the editor of your local media

White Paper on Federal, State Racketeering and Gang Crime Laws

 

 

 

Who knew there's a bill of rights for trafficking victims?

Did you know there's a "trafficking victims' bill of rights" -- and that it's US federal law?

I didn't...

...until I went to a special training last week led by my friend and colleague Giselle Rodriguez. Giselle is state outreach coordinator for the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking, of which I'm a member. 

A lot of people in the audience were service providers who work with rescued victims -- yet honestly most of them didn't know that federal law mandates specific protocols for victim assistance.

Giselle told us, for example, that if you work with rescued victims you legally have to offer them:

• Shelter
• Privacy and safety
• Medical and psychological attention
• Legal representation
• Translators (if they speak another language)
• Mandatory restitution
• The right to seek residency
• And many other protocols

They can refuse any of these but you do have to offer them.

They're all part of the "trafficking victims' bill of rights," which you can find in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Scroll down to Section 107, Section C. 

TVPA is US federal law. According to Giselle, TVPA's bill of rights mirrors the one found in the UN Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, an international treaty that mandates protection for trafficking victims.

"Once you learn about the issue of human trafficking," Giselle told me, "it's important to read the TVPA. It serves as a guideline of (a) what human trafficking is defined as, (b) what the US has stated are its goals to combat human trafficking, and (c) what the federal government mandates us, especially service providers, to do when working with a victim of human trafficking.

"TVPA is a victim-centered law yet too many of us are not following the bill of rights that the TVPA has set," she added. "In fact we may be causing harm to the very people we all want to help."

The fact that we even had this training shows:

1. How far the anti-trafficking movement has come. A few years ago, most people didn't see trafficking victims as, well, victims. (You'd hear comments such as, "She asked for it" and other ignorant remarks.) (OK, we still hear that and more.)

2. How far we still have to go.

BTW, Giselle is an expert on anti-trafficking and travels all over the country giving trainings on this and other aspects of stopping the traffic. You can contact her at gisellefcaht@gmail.com to speak to your organization.