Human trafficking emerges as local issue, NGU student promotes cause
Posted by The Skyliner on November 16th, 2011Jordan Ecarma
Editor-in-Chief
The travesty of human trafficking occurs around the world, but sometimes we forget just how close to home it happens as well. Experts at the Polaris Project/National Human Trafficking Resource Center estimate that there are a minimum of about 5,100 to 60,500 people trafficked into and within the U.S. each year, and an estimated 100,000 American children who are prostituted within the U.S. each year.
Human trafficking, whether for forced labor or commercial sex, is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world, and traffickers reap billions in profits. According to Janice Crouse, Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank for the Concerned Women for America, sex trafficking is the number two crime worldwide. The number of people, 30 million, who are in slavery now is greater than at any other point in human history. The victims are beaten down both through psychological terrors and physical brutality. Even after being rescued, scars both literal and metaphorical can last forever.
After developing a special passion for stopping human trafficking, NGU student Bethany Stoddard, senior church music, started a Greenville chapter of Love 146 this past August. Love 146 is an organization whose mission is the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation. Being a part of Love 146 involves joining a task force, a group of people who meet monthly and commit to fighting human trafficking.
“What we do is educate people about sex trafficking, both worldwide and in the U.S., and what we can do about it,” Stoddard said. “Basically, in Love 146 you commit to raising a certain amount of money each year as a group. You meet once a month. Your group should be active, which means you brainstorm ideas or organize projects that can help raise money.”
Stoddard became aware of the issue in her senior year of high school and wanted to help.
“I was searching online for something I could do for a speech, and it had to be a cause,” she said. “Nothing was coming to mind. I ran across a site that talked about the sex trafficking issue. I had never heard of it before, and I was appalled by it. I immediately wanted to do something to help. I didn’t find any way to get involved from where I am until the Love 146 option became available. [Then] I decided to start a task force here in Greenville.”
Cecelia Alfonso, freshman interdisciplinary studies, worked over the summer with Redeem the Shadows, an organization that fights sex trafficking in the U.S.
“We cannot distance ourselves from this issue no matter how hard we try,” Alfonso said.
While preventing human trafficking and rescuing its victims are essential, sometimes the importance of healing is forgotten.
“Most of what I’ve been able to tell is that what these girls need most is Jesus,” Alfonso said. “They’ve been horribly abused, and they have terrible psychological issues, and they no longer know how to think of men. Jesus is the only person who can heal them completely.”
William J. Watkins, Jr., an assistant attorney with the U.S. General Attorney’s Office in South Carolina, works on human trafficking cases. Both forced labor and sex trafficking occur right here in Greenville.
“Attorneys in this district come across a couple of human trafficking cases a year. That’s only the ones that we locate; there are a ton more going on, unfortunately. It’s just getting worse,” Watkins said.
“You have young girls who are either unaware or meet somebody who seems like a friend. It’s really force and intimidation. Their will to resist is beaten down, and they do as they’re told.”
Young girls are often ensnared through the Internet, believing that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace and ads published on Craigslist and Backpage.com are safe.
“You would think it’s something Third World, but I think a lot of it is the Internet,” Watkins said. “It’s easier for people to reach out and contact. It’s more common now to have friends on Facebook that you don’t even know, and I think a lot of that contributes to it. People have lowered their guard.”
According to the 2010 state rating by the Polaris Project, the lead organization focused on human trafficking in the U.S., South Carolina was among the “Dirty Dozen,” 12 states in the bottom tier with 0-2 statutes addressing human trafficking. This year, only nine states remain in the bottom tier—South Carolina included.
State legislators are working to bring more awareness to the issue of human trafficking. According to a South Carolina 2011 Legislator’s Brief for H3757, also known as the Human Trafficking Bill, “lack of awareness about the crime of human trafficking by the public and law enforcement in South Carolina drives a continued increase in human trafficking.” The bill defines terms pertaining to human trafficking more clearly, and key to this bill, it provides for forfeiture of trafficker assets and restitution for victims of human trafficking.
The bill went through a hearing in May and is currently being revised in anticipation of the reconvening of the legislature in January.
If you encounter a human trafficking situation, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at 1-888-3737-888.
To join the Greenville task force, contact Bethany Stoddard at bethanymuse89@gmail.com.
Tags: Fall 2011, Vol. 113 - Issue 9