Interfaith Group Tackles Trafficking in New Jersey | End Human Trafficking | Change.org

by Amanda Kloer November 28, 2010 03:30 AM (PT)

Two Methodists, a Hindu, a Catholic, and an Episcopalian walk into a bar ... In Ridgewood, New Jersey, that's not the beginning of a bad joke. Instead, it's the beginning of a local movement to end human trafficking and a number of related global problems. And it's what happens when five women have the audacity to plan an epic event to engage their community in fighting human trafficking.

The event was the brainchild of Susanne Ziskis and four other women who make up Evening Dialogue, an inter-faith spiritual growth and discipline group. While the diverse group usually focuses on sharing their faith traditions and embracing common values like gratitude and forgiveness, they took a brief departure from their normal agenda at Ziskis's suggestion by reading Nicholas Kristof's human trafficking book Half the Sky. After delving into and discussing the stories in the book, the group felt simultaneously overwhelmed by tragedy and determined to respond.

So they began to plan the event that eventually blossomed into Ridgewood Cares: A Festival of Opportunities. They networked around their community, calling both local and international organizations, and even printing ads for the event on paper place mats at the town's most popular restaurant. They picked a day in November to host what would be a trade show for nonprofits, complete with a film festival, interactive dance performances, and a Fair Trade cafe.

According to Ziskis, the women knew that Ridgewood Cares was a success before the event was even held. And it's true the enthusiasm for fighting human trafficking in the town was infectious leading up to the big day. For example, a photographer from the local paper covering the event planning process learned Polaris Project's greatest need was clean underwear for women rescued from sex trafficking. She showed up at the festival with two giant Rubbermaid tubs of underwear she'd collected for the organization. The preparation also re-invigorated another local anti-trafficking group that had gone dormant in the previous year.

But that didn't give the ladies of Evening Dialogue an excuse to slack off. Ridgewood Cares ultimately inspired 63 organizations, 150 participants, and around 400 attendees spend a beautiful fall day fighting human trafficking and related issues. The mantra of the day was to celebrate efforts to fight trafficking and connect people and organizations in a dynamic, meaningful way. Attendees had the opportunity to meet representatives from organizations and hear speakers, donate to projects and programs, volunteer with local organizations, and share their passion with like-minded people. As one participant said early in the morning, "This day hasn't even begun and it's already a success. Just to be here, to see all these people, and to be able to interact with them ... is incredible."

Evening Dialogue started with a small idea — to do something concrete to address the human trafficking they read about — and it grew to be pretty big. Now, two other counties in New Jersey have approached Zizkis and asked how they can duplicate Ridgewood Cares in their area. And they've received a number of requests to make the Ridgewood event an annual one. If you're interested in learning more about Ridgewood Cares or planning a similar event in your area, check out their Facebook page.

Ridgewood Cares was successful on a number of levels, but it's greatest accomplishment might be the simple fact that one day in November, five women of different faiths made a mutual commitment to changing the world that reverberated through their community. As an added bonus, two other women — a Buddhist and a Unitarian — became interested in Evening Dialogue and are now considering joining. The women are looking forward to the group's growth and continued diversity. But first, they're refocusing on their next spiritual discipline ... Sabbath rest.

GOT A TIP FOR US? Is there a story or campaign in your area that we'd want to know about? E-mail us at humantraffickingtips@change.org

Photo credit: Ridgewood Cares (with permission)

Amanda Kloer is a Change.org Editor and has been a full-time abolitionist in several capacities for seven years. Follow her on Twitter @endhumantraffic

Source: End Human Trafficking

Interfaith Group Tackles Trafficking in New Jersey | End Human Trafficking | Change.org

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Let's Stop Sex Trafficking Right Here at Home

By Samir Goswami and Anne Ream

WeNews commentators

Monday, October 12, 2009

Chicago is locking up prostituted women and girls, which Samir Goswami and Anne K. Ream say is the wrong response to sex trafficking. They call on Chicago and other cities to target the johns and pimps who fuel the exploitation.

Editor's Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women's eNews. (WOMENSENEWS)


The recent publication of Nicholas D. Kristof's and Sheryl WuDunn's book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," brings much-needed attention to the sexual trafficking of women and girls in poor and developing countries.

Raising awareness of this damaging and deadly industry, as well as greater action on the behalf of these women and girls, is long overdue. International sex trade is financed by the pain of those who often come from difficult or desperate circumstances, women who are then thrust into unimaginably cruel conditions.
But as we think and act globally on the issue of sexual trafficking and exploitation, we must also act locally.


Chicago, one of the major homes to sexual trafficking in the United States, is a good place to start.

First-Tier Trafficking Hub

As many as 16,000 women and girls are prostituted in the greater Chicago area, making the "Second City" a first-tier hub for trafficking, according to Jody Raphael, a senior research fellow at the Schiller DuCanto and Fleck Family Law Center at DePaul College of Law in Chicago.

As is the case internationally, U.S.-based traffickers and pimps use force, coercion and fraud to recruit vulnerable young girls into prostitution. Often homeless and victims of previous sexual or physical abuse, these young women are transported from cities, suburbs and rural or small-town communities to work in conditions that are degrading and dangerous.

Chicago's response has been largely a failure--and an expensive one at that.

A review of data released by the City of Chicago Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence shows that the city's $9 million-per-year strategy for fighting prostitution invests heavily in arresting women being prostituted, while often failing to hold the pimps who profit from their exploitation or the johns who demand their services accountable. Between 2003 and 2005, 65 percent of prostitution-related arrests were of the women being prostituted; less than 1 percent of arrests were of traffickers and pimps.

The lopsided nature of Chicago's strategy was made clear during a September 2009 meeting at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation office. Half a dozen members of the Women of Power Alumni Association, a collective of formerly incarcerated women who provide peer support to and advocacy for those currently in the criminal justice system, came together here to share their stories.

"When the police busted me and the trick who hired me, I went to prison but he was sent home to his family," LaTaunya Frazier, who served a sentence for prostitution and was released from prison four years ago, told the group. "Why was that? I was there because I needed to make money to support myself and my baby. You know what? I had a baby I wanted to go home to, too."

Not a Single Conviction

Such stories make it clear that if we wish to curtail prostitution by taking the women working in this industry "off the streets," our money would be better spent providing safe housing, education, job alternatives and social services.

Though Illinois passed a statewide anti-trafficking statute in 2006, not a single trafficker has since been convicted under that law.

It's time to change that.

The most effective way to diminish the business of prostitution is to end the demand for it. This means taking a market-driven approach that holds accountable the johns whose purchasing decisions fuel the billion-dollar sex trade industry and the pimps who profit from it.

With this goal in mind, the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and its partner organizations have launched "End Demand Illinois." This three-year, $550,000 campaign challenges the way our city and state responds to prostitution.

Through an innovative partnership with the Cook County Sheriff's Office and an emerging collaboration with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the Chicago Police Department, "End Demand Illinois" will advocate for the creation of legal tools and the resources and training needed to facilitate the prosecution of traffickers and johns, implement programming to deter future buying and increase penalties for repeat offenders.

It's all too easy to call it "trafficking and sexual exploitation" when it occurs in distant regions, but to downplay it as "the world's oldest profession" when we encounter prostitution at home.

It's time to take on the business of prostitution, not the prostituted women who are most often its victims. We hope that other cities and states will agree, and follow our lead.

Samir Goswami is policy director for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, or CAASE. Anne Ream is a Chicago-based writer, CAASE board member and founder of Girl360.net, an empowerment project for tween girls.

For more information:

Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
http://www.caase.org/
The Voices and Faces Project
http://www.voicesandfaces.org/
CounterQuo.org
http://www.counterquo.org/
Note: Women's eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites and the contents of site the link points to may change.
Copyright 2009 Women's eNews. The information contained in this Women's eNews report may--with the prior written authorization of Women's eNews--be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.

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