Feature Focus: Human Trafficking

What is it and what can we do about it?

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By Jennie Renner The Human Trafficking Hotline defines human trafficking as “a form of modern-day slavery.” On their website, humantraffickinghotline.org, it says, “This crime occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against his/her will. Force, fraud, or coercion need not be present if the individual engaging in commercial sex is under 18 years of age.”

Or put a simpler way: “Human trafficking is the business of stealing freedom for profit.” It may come in the form of working for no pay or being forced to perform sex acts for money. For Genevieve Meyer, the definition of human trafficking is not an abstract concept. At the age of 15, she was forced to marry her 43-year-old perpetrator so that he would avoid jail time. For years, she kept her personal story a secret trying to move on with her life. Now she is an advocate for others like her through her organization The Resiliency Foundation. “I thought that it was just some weird legal loophole that I fell through,” said Meyer. “I thought the situation was unique to me.” According to a report available on the website for the Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit organization, in the United States between 2000 and 2018, over 300,000 minors were entered into marriages. While child marriages don’t always involve human trafficking, forced marriage is a problem that leaves children vulnerable to exploitation. While you may think that human trafficking is only a problem in other countries, the truth is that it happens in every state in our country. In 2020, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received a total of 51,667 substantive contacts through their various channels resulting in 10,583 reported cases of human trafficking. Of those, 514 cases were in Indiana, and Indiana ranks 21st in the nation for human trafficking reports. “It’s estimated that only 1 percent of trafficking victims are ever identified or receive any kind of help or support,” said Meyer. “We have a lot of great resources out there. I think sometimes people just don’t know that they exist.” You can help by educating yourself about what to look for and learning how to report suspected cases. Here are some local and national resources: • The Anti-Trafficking Network of Northeast Indiana (antitraffickingnetwork.com) provides education on human trafficking and networking for service providers to share resources and support survivors. • National Human Trafficking Hotline (humantraffickinghotline.org) connects victims and survivors of sex and labor trafficking with services and supports to get help and stay safe. • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (missingkids.org) offers information and a tip line to report child sexual exploitation. • Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign (dhs.gov/blue-campaign) is a national public awareness campaign designed to educate the public, law enforcement, and other partners on how to recognize the indicators of human trafficking, and how to respond. a