Rotary Club tackles human trafficking
The Bailey’s Crossroads Rotary Club is embarking on a new initiative to draw attention to a devastating problem that is destroying the lives of vulnerable children and adults worldwide – human trafficking and forced labor.
“It’s a massive problem. It is brutal,” said John Cotton Richmond, the former U.S. ambassador-at-large to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, at a recent Rotary event.
There are 27.6 million victims in the world today, Richmond said. Traffickers reap about $150.2 billion a year by forcing people to have sex for money or forcing them to work without pay.
The Rotary Club has joined the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery, an initiative calling for Rotarians to engage stakeholders in combatting trafficking, increase community awareness on the issue, and work with schools to prevent students from becoming victims.
In 2021, 85 adults were arrested in Virginia for assisting or promoting prostitution or human trafficking involving commercial sex acts. That number has been decreasing since 2012, when there were 540 arrests for those crimes.
Yet reports about human trafficking have been steadily rising in the D.C. metropolitan area, said special agent Kathryn Freeman of the Human Trafficking Unit with the Virginia State Police.
Her office gets lots of tips, including a recent one about an alleged escort ring involving women from Korea forced to work as escorts in Annandale karaoke bars.
Freeman noted some things that tip off law enforcement, such as a bulk-size box of condoms. And when a presumed victim says someone else is holding her money and ID, that’s a huge red flag.
Other questions to ask yourself about children you think could be trafficked. Are they dressed appropriately for their age and for the weather? Does it look like their hair had been dyed? If they are traveling, are their belongings in luggage or a trash bag?
Rotary official Amelia Stansell urged Rotarians to become aware of potential human trafficking in the community. If you suspect someone might be a victim, she advises being a great listener and being supportive without being judgmental. Call the police even if you fear you might be wrong.
According to Richmond, victims are more likely to be prosecuted than traffickers, and traffickers who are prosecuted usually get a suspended sentence.
For Freeman, the top priority is getting victims help and keeping them safe. When law enforcement takes a case to court, “the victim will have to tell their story over and over and that will retraumatize them.”
Law enforcement also conducts “demand reduction operations” involving the arrest of solicitors, Freeman said, but in Virginia that is only a misdemeanor. She said the average patron for prostitutes is a white Christian male age 35-45.
On average, a victim will leave and return seven times before leaving for good, Freeman said. And when they do leave, they end up with no money, no ID, and no job skills.
Traffickers look for girls aging out of foster care and girls who have already been victimized by a family member, Richmond said. Victims often don’t speak up because they fear their parents, friends, or religious communities won’t accept them.
Yet, “there are many reasons for hope,” he said. The European Union is taking a hard line on prohibiting companies from having their products manufactured by forced labor.
He said the U.S. needs to put more pressure on corporations, step up enforcement, and stop penalizing victims – while groups like Rotary clubs can support community awareness and prevention education.
Noting that Rotary International completely eradicated polio, he has hope they could do the same for human trafficking.
“She said the average patron for prostitutes is a white Christian male age 35-45.”
That’s quite a claim and I’m very suspicious of it without any proof. How about enforcing existing laws?
Who are the people that are trafficking the victims and how is it happening? As our border czar VP Harris says, let’s get to the root causes. Why is the concern centered on who is purchasing the “service?” The equivalent would be going after drug users and not drug dealers.
Want to do something about trafficking? How about sending a team of cops to every one of those little nail places and ” spas” in Fairfax?
Another hit piece on white men. I’m a white male with a nuclear family. I served my country. The type of service where people are shooting at you. I’m a Christian. Apparently everywhere I go, I’m the enemy. But I’ll only comment anonymously on this blog lest the ability to provide for my family is taken. Rest assured, the point is taken that I’m not wanted. Fine by me. The anger has subsided and now I watch this train wreck, as I remove myself and my family from the public. Can’t stop at a stoplight without aggressive panhandlers. Can’t enter a place of commerce without harassment inside or outside. Can’t go into Target without a trans display directly adjacent to little girl mannequins in bikinis with six packs. You denigrate us with hiring practices, fire us for not taking vaccines, and ruin the suburbs where we’ve put our life savings. I, for one, am resigned to the decline. All I ask is that you leave me alone. I’ll shut up; just leave my children alone. Is that asking too much? Must we be bombarded with toxicity at every turn? If I move again to get away from you, move to the middle of nowhere and cede everything, is that enough, or must you have full ideological compliance for my family to live a somewhat happy life? Keep in mind I’m not stopping you from doing anything you want to do with your life.
If more people lived by a mantra of, i’ll leave you alone if you leave me alone, this country would be in much better shape. At the same time, you don’t have to like everything but you can also ignore it. Unfortunately, many folks can’t live by that, they only want it THEIR way which is a big reason we have such a divided country.
I will say you complain about full ideological compliance but based off the things that bother you, you want others to conform to your specific beliefs. That’s not how we get to a better place in my opinion.
Dude you talk about leaving people alone and attack trans people for existing in the next sentence.
Being a white male christan isn’t a problem. Being an anti-science bigot is. Your persecution complex is unreal.
Spot on!
Who is this “you” you keep talking about? But really…talk about taking a legitimate, world-wide problem and making it all about you! I’m sorry about the problems you tell us you’re facing but, honest question, how have these things concretely and negatively impacted your life?
Good presentation on the issue, what to watch for, and a reminder to speak up when you see something. This Marine did!
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/445255/reserve-marine-foils-dc-area-human-trafficking-ring-just-hours-before-fitness-test
Is it trafficking if the Indo Paki “”uncle”” who sponsors half his village to work at VABC store? And honestly that accounts for a lot of the job loss in the area. Most of those won’t exist w out the free labor