Trafficking Monitor is a blog I created and curate. It offers posts highlighting the multifaceted nature of human trafficking and forced/indentured labour. I draw on a diversity of sources for my posts. You are invited to recommend materials for posting.
By Yamiche Alcindor, USA TODAY
7a.m. EDT March 28, 2013
Victims, survivors and others wishing to connect with the national
human trafficking hotline can send a text to "BeFree" or 233733.
Rescuing a victim of human trafficking may come down to a text message.
Polaris
Project, a non-profit group that runs the national human trafficking
hotline, begins accepting text messages Thursday in an effort to expand
its reach. Victims, survivors and others wishing to connect with the
group's staff can send a text to "BeFree" or 233733.
"Victims of
trafficking are often heavily controlled, and in this kind of
environment being able to send a silent text message could be their
primary access to getting help," said Sarah Jakiel, deputy director of
Polaris Project.
Human trafficking is a fast-growing industry
defined by the State Department as the recruitment, transportation or
harboring of people by means of deception or coercion. Victims, often
mentally and physically abused, can be forced into prostitution, unfair
working conditions or other exploitative situations.
In many
cases, victims communicate with exploiters, clients and even family
members and friends via text messages but are unable to make phone calls
because of privacy issues or cost, Jakiel said.
About a year ago, Polaris started talking about how to reach more clients through their phones.
The
system is simple. A person sends a text to 233733 and the message pops
up on a computer screen at Polaris Project. An employee can talk with
the person to determine his or her needs, point out resources and in
some cases notify law enforcement officials.
Polaris Project has
received more than 70,303 calls and 5,600 e-mails since December 2007.
It's received more than 2,000 Web form submissions since January 2011.
Adding text messaging to the hotline will "dramatically expand the way
we are able to interface with victims," Jakiel said.
In a survey
of 60 child survivors of sex trafficking by Thorn: Digital Defenders of
Children, 73% of children said they had a cellphone while they were
being exploited and 69% said they used texts to communicate with
trafficking clients.
"Technology is playing an increasingly
prominent role in the sexual solicitation of children, whether it's
children being sold online or child pornography," said Julie Cordua,
executive director of Thorn.
Bridgette Carr is a professor at the
University of Michigan Law School and director of the school's human
trafficking clinic, where law students provide legal assistance to
victims. She knows first hand the impact Polaris' texting effort might
have.
"I can definitely think of clients who eventually made the
call for help but if they had the option to text would have done it
sooner," she said, adding that at least one woman had to wait for her
traffickers to leave the home where she was held captive as a domestic
servant before calling for help.
Key to the new texting effort
will be making sure victims are aware the hotline exists, that texting
is an option and that more technological solutions will come, Carr said.
"Traffickers are way out ahead of us on using technology to exploit people," she said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
