Updated: Monday, 20 Feb 2012, 1:29 AM CST
Published : Monday, 20 Feb 2012, 1:29 AM CST
HOUSTON - February is Human Trafficking Month, and for the last few weeks at FOX 26, we have been taking an in-depth look at how the city of Houston has become a major hub for sex trafficking.
18 speakers and 500 attendees gathered Saturday afternoon for "Free the Captives" 2nd annual Human Trafficking Conference at Houston’s First Baptist Church.
Presentations focused on international and domestic issues ... with a large emphasis on what's going on right here in Houston.
Nearly 300,000 young children are at risk of being sexually exploited ever year in the United States; and guess what? Much of it is happening right here in our own backyard.
"Houston girls are being trafficked, not just international women, girls who are born and raised right here in Houston are being trafficked daily," said Free the Captives founder/director Julie Waters.
Houston has become a well-known hub for human trafficking.
"We are a port city, we’re an international city, close to the border, but mainly because buyers can get away with it here so it thrives," said Waters.
The conference is geared towards educating the local community and giving people a way to get involved.
Speaker Nell Green says many people disregard the issue, thinking it could never affect them.
"The number of people who want to think it’s not in my neighborhood, the number of people who think this can’t happen to my child, the number of people who seem to be rather lax about what’s going on in the internet," said Green.
Attendee Brooke Stern says she was shocked to learn about the connection between porn and sex trafficking.
"I didn’t know that you could become so addicted, didn’t know that it could cause you to go seek out children and to be able to perform what you had seen," said Stern.
Mark Collins said he wants to take responsibility and do his part by gathering more info and figuring out a way to help.
"I'm embarrassed as a man, to how much men have supported this sex industry and how what they may think is just not harmful stuff is feeding a horrible industry that is abusive and exploiting the young victims that come in at 12-14," said Collins.
Free the Captives founder Julie Waters says if there's a demand from buyers, there's going to be a supply from traffickers ... so buyers and landlords need to be targeted.
"The landlords are renting out spaces to traffickers such as cantinas, massage parlors and brothels, that’s where the international women are being trafficked, the Houston girls are being trafficked on the street, in hotel rooms and on the internet, those places don’t require a landlord, they require a buyer and that’s why the buyer needs to be arrested," said Waters.
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