| Bloomfield,
CT 06002 |
|
May
3 2006 |
| |
Human
trafficking is widespread throughout the United States.
Trafficking of humans is the second largest criminal industry in
the world after drug dealing, and is the fastest growing.
According to the Naples Daily News, Naples, Fl. many victims of
trafficking are made to engage in prostitution, pornography or
exotic dancing. But trafficking also occurs in forms of labor
exploitation, such as domestic servitude or restaurant work,
sweatshop, factory work or migrant agricultural work.
The Daily News reports that force, fraud and coercion are the
methods used by traffickers to press victims into lives of
servitude and abuse.
- Force--rape, beatings, confinement
- Fraud--False offers of employment, marriage, better life
- Coercion--Threats, debt-bondage, psychological abuse.
I am a member of the Naples Press Club in Florida. At a meeting of
the Press Club, we were informed about the types of trafficking
that occur right in Southwest Florida. Victims serve in wealthy
residents' homes, migrants trapped in the fields trying to pay off
a debt they never will be able to pay to captors who helped
smuggle them into the country. Children are smuggled into the
country and sex slavery. Both women and children are smuggled in
for a better life but instead are forced into prostitution and to
serve the sexual whims of enslavers.
Federal officials state the number of people trafficked into the
U.S. yearly at 14,500 to 17,500. Some 600,000 to 850,000 people
are trafficked across international borders each year, according
to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Half of the
victims are children, according to the U.S. State Department.
From 2001-2004, the U.S. Department of Justice charged 140 human
traffickers--three times the number in the previous three-year
period. It convicted 92 defendants--almost twice the number
convicted in the three years before.
According to the Naples Daily News, Doug Molloy, chief assistant
U.S. Attorney in Fort Myers, has 11 active slavery and human
trafficking cases at a time when most people think slavery was
eradicated hundreds of years ago.
Identifying Victims
Social workers are asked to look for signs to identify victims of
trafficking. They are:
- Is the person accompanied by another person who seems
controlling (possibly the trafficker)?
- Is the person rarely allowed in public except to work.
- Can you contact any physical or psychological abuse.
-.Does the person seem submissive or fearful?
- Does the person lack identification or documentation?
- Is someone else collecting the person's pay or holding their
money for "safe keeping"?
You don't have to be a social worker to spot trafficking.
If you suspect someone is a victim of trafficking, call the
Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline at 1-888-3737-888 to
obtain information and to access supportive services thorough the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. This hotline will help
victims safely and securely rebuild their lives by connecting them
to basic services including: housing, health care, immigration
assistance, food, income, employment, legal assistance.
Victims of human trafficking who are non-U.S. citizens are
eligible to receive benefits and services. Victims who are U.S.
citizens are already eligible to receive many of these benefits.
Remember if you think someone is a victim of human trafficking,
call the Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline:
1-888-373-7888. For more information about human trafficking
visit: www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking.
Does this really exist in America? Yes, it does and it can be
happening in your town or state. |
| |
Cynthia
Bercowetz (consumreye@aol.com)
Author/Consumer Advocate
22 Oak Lane
Bloomfield, CT 06002
Phone : 860-243-2208 |
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