Combatting Human Trafficking

The Ogden Soroptimist Club hosted a five hour seminar on Combatting Human Trafficking, presented by Lt. Colonel Helen Starrett of the Salvation Army.

The United Nations defines trafficking in persons (TIP) as “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.  Exploitation shall include, at a minimum of the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.”

Lt. Colonel Starrett referred to trafficking as slavery, as did Dana Vaughn-Mgunda in her workshop at the Soroptimist Rocky Mountain Region Conference in Price, Utah.  Since I posted Modern Day Abolitionists in May of 2011, human trafficking has risen from organized crime’s third largest activity to its second largest activity.  Human trafficking is second only to arms sales as the largest source of funds for organized crime.  And why not?  Unlike guns and drugs, a human can be sold multiple times to multiple different buyers. 

Soroptimist International, through the Soroptimists Stop Trafficking Program, has been working toward trafficking awareness and prevention.  Lt. Colonel Starrett encouraged the attendees, which included Soroptimists, other non-profits working on trafficking issues, and several members of Ogden’s law enforcement community, to work on the needs of trafficking survivors. 

Victims need a host of services including, but not limited to:

·         Law enforcement
·         Medical care
·         Reintegration with family
·         Life skills
·         The arts
·         Legal Counsel
·         Social Work counseling
·         Vocational training
·         Political advocacy

No one organization can do it all.  The workshop challenged us to think of ways we can make a difference to trafficking victims.