By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
ELLIS — Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, and U.S. highways are the slave routes, a Catholic sister told a group in Ellis last week.
Sister Margaret Nacke of the U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking spoke last week to the Daughters of Isabella Group in Ellis.
"I think our middle states, the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas, really can say this — that we are a state of transit because traffickers come through here with their victims.
"We can say we are a state of origin because a lot of the kids who are trafficked are from our own state of Kansas, and we can say we are a state of destination, because of times of the fairs or big sports events, we bring in victims from other states."
There are more peopled enslaved today than during the 400 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Nacke said.
An estimated 40 million people, including children, are held in slavery worldwide today despite the fact that every single country in the world has outlawed slavery, according to U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking.
This is the result of greed and lust, but also the result of economic despairity, she said, as the poor are at the highest risk of being trafficked.
Statistics on trafficking in the U.S.
- In the United States, 82 percent of incidents of human trafficking were related to the sex trade.
- 98 percent of those involved are women or girls
- 95 percent of the victims experience physical or sexual violence during trafficking
- The average of age a girl in the sex trade is 13, but victims have been trafficked as young as 8
"Human trafficking is a multi-billion criminal business that is sustained by the buyers," Nacke said. "It's an economic principal. It's very simple. If you open a store and no one comes, you have to close the store. It looks that we have a lot of people to buy."
Sex trade
Nacke said that girls are more expensive when they are younger. This is resulting in the age of trafficked girls trending downward.
The girls are used in brothels and at truck stops, as well in pornography. The United States is the top consumer of pornography in the world, Nacke said.
"It's not just boys and men," she said. "It's girls and women looking at pornography during work hours.
"If you look at the research on that," Nacke said, "if you look at the brain of someone who has been looking at pornography and that of someone using heroine, that's about the same."
Slave labor
Although most of the people trafficked in the U.S. are for the sex trade, you do see some people also trafficked for labor. One of the most common areas for this in the U.S. is woman working in nail salons.
"We use slave labor a lot in this country and don't even know it," Nacke said. "All of us in this room at some time or another have consumed, worn or touched something that was [created] with slave labor."
You can find your slavery footprint by going to End Slavery Now. This journalist took the survey and learned she had 28 slaves working for her based on factors such as buying and eating habits.
End Slavery Now also has offers a downloadable, Slave-Free Buying Guide.
Nacke mentioned several common items, such as sugar, coffee and cocoa, that are produced through international slave labor, often children.
"I remember reading a talk of a man that had won the Nobel Peace Prize and he said, 'How is that these children can work in picking up cocoa beans and yet have never tasted chocolate?' " Nacke said, "... or stitching footballs and never played the game?"
Children are forced into slave labor on fishing vessels, and that fish makes to U.S. tables.
Drug cartels use children to ferry drugs across the U.S./Mexico border. When the cartels are done with the children, they kill them, Nacke said.
Technology
Technology is changing the way victims get caught up in trafficking as well as the way victims are bought and sold.
"I think what really grows the business is social media," Nacke said. "The internet is a 21st century auction block. The last auction in this country was in 1859 at a race track that is out of business now in Georgia to pay off a guy's debts. It brought in like $9 million.
"We are doing that today on the internet. You can buy a man, woman or child on the internet from a local market as fast as you can buy a pizza or buy a book or music from Amazon."
Predators use the internet to build relationships with young, potential victims.
"I think we have to teach our children not to give everything out about yourself," she said. "If you don't know who is at the other end of that (and they can lie about their age and everything, stop the communication right there."
Education is key
Nacke said a groundswell of education is helping address the problem.
Legislation is also changing. Children in the sex trade were once prosecuted as prostitutes. Any person under the age of 18 is not a prostitute — they are a victim of a crime, Nacke said.
U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking has worked with law enforcement, medical professionals and hotel and motel staff to teach them to recognizing possible instances of human trafficking.
Red flags of trafficking
- inconsistent or missing history
- doesn't know the current city or address
- has few or no personal possessions
- youth who has a much older boyfriend or girlfriend
- inappropriately dressed for the weather or situation
- youth who has items they cannot afford
- looks younger than the stated age
- carrying a large amount of cash
- frequent travel
- rehearsed responses
- living with the employer
- pimp branding tattoos
- not in control of passport or ID
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-3737-888. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE). You can also contact your local law enforcement agency about suspected human trafficking. If you believe someone is in eminent danger, call 911.
Related link: Shared Hope
Cover photo courtesy Pixabay