Ohio - Still Leaders...In Human Trafficking

Have you heard this before? You should have - it is the same information that has been reported for the last 3 years and probably will be reported again this year.

A 2007 Rand Corporation report has identifed Ohio, specifically Columbus and Toledo, as prime for the recruitment and kidnapping of sex trafficking victims. Ohio has been identified as a hub for human trafficking.

These numbers are from 2007 - and we have just stepped into 2010.

Nearly four years before that, in late 2003, a Cleveland teenage girl was abducted at gunpoint downtown and driven to Detroit, where she was kept with other girls who were being forced to have sex with men in exchange for food and money.

In 2006, federal authorities broke up a prostitution ring in Toledo that abused girls and young women smuggled into the United States. Near Cleveland in March, a police traffic stop found a driver and passengers, including a terrified 23-year-old woman, in a car that came from Mexico. The woman, disoriented and pregnant, told rape counselors through an interpreter that instead of finding her family, she was forced into prostitution.

There have been cases of young girls being trafficked from Columbus to all points, including West Virginia, the aforementioned Michigan, New York and nationally.

Federal law prohibits human trafficking, and the U.S. Department of Justice has urged each state to make its own statute. Twenty-seven states have. Ohio's bill is pending. It has been since 2003.

So what happens when child prostitutes are located or found?

The only way to ensure a good chance of recovery for these children is placement in a residential treatment program. Right now there are only three in the United States: in New York, California and Georgia.

“When America’s child prostitutes are identified by the FBI or police, they are incarcerated for whatever reason possible, whether it be an unrelated crime or ‘material witness hold,’ ” said Lois Lee, founder of one of the three centers, Children of the Night in Los Angeles.

“Then they are dumped back in the dysfunctional home, ill-equipped group home or foster care, and (often) disappear back into the underground of prostitution with no voice.”

Experts say victims struggle to find care once they escape an industry that could involve as many as 300,000 U.S. children.(Gracehaven)

Hmm....is this more of your tax dollars at work? Let's see:

1. Discover the problem - billions of dollars - Pookie and 'em coulda told you about it. They have seen it happening because the girls abducted are not mostly living in Wexley.

2. Do a big giant report about it - billions of more dollars - Lil Cease and them coulda wrote it like a rap. They are not doing anything else. Them and Foxy plus Kim have LOTS of time.

3. Quote the report throughout the media for 3, going on 4 years. And use the same 2 paragraphs to quote from, as well. I found the same quote in 4 articles from 4 distinctly different mainstream media sources. Hmm.....any third grader could have done that. That way, you don't have to read past the first couple of pages of the report. Or you can just use the AP Wire.

4. Start a 'Say No to Human Trafficking Campaign' and do some busts - arrest the young girls to get them out of the critical situation. Billions of dollars
- black bullet proof vests, $5.3 Million;
Black bad ass sunglasses to deflect the glare of sun when you bust prostitute rings $2.5 Million;
herding little girls into jail and holding them long enough to place them back into equally bad situations with no help, no counseling resources, because there are only 3 residential treatment centers for women/girls in this condition in the United States, privately founded. NO HELP - priceless.

But I bet you the IRS is busy checking the taxes of every taxpaying U.S. citizen back to 2003 for discrepancies.

So, herein lies the issue - how do you help? How to become a part of the solution that probably affects some of our urban elements more than it does some of those that are not so urban?

Contact:
Gracehaven: www.salvationarmycolumbus.org
Salvation Army: www.salvationarmycolumbus.org

According to HumanTrafficking.org:

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A VICTIM OF TRAFFICKING
RED FLAGS TO LOOK OUT FOR A TRAFFICKING VICTIM:

Living with Employer
Poor Living Conditions
Multiple People in Cramped Space
Inability to Speak to an Individual Alone
Employer Holding Identity Documents
Signs of Physical Abuse
Submissive or Fearful
Unpaid or Paid Very Little
Under 18 and in Prostitution
Heavy security at the commercial establishment including barred windows, locked doors, isolated location, electronic surveillance. Women are never seen leaving the premises unless escorted.

Victims live at the same premises as the brothel or work site or are driven between quarters and "work" by a guard. For labor trafficking, victims are often prohibited from leaving the work site, which may look like a guarded compound from the outside.
Victims are kept under surveillance when taken to a doctor, hospital or clinic for treatment; trafficker may act as a translator.

High foot traffic especially for brothels where there may be trafficked women indicated often by a stream of men arriving and leaving the premises.

When you see these kinds of signs - call somebody and report them. Call them back. Then call them again.

Call the Mayor's hotline. He left the Rally against teen violence early. He's available. 311

Call the FBI action line.

Or just attend this event:

“January 11, 2010 - National Human Trafficking Awareness Day Event"
at OSU from 1:00 - 8:30 PM
at The Ohio State University, College of Social Work
Stillman Hall, Room 115.
Featuring Speakers: Michelle Hannan and Theresa Flores,
filmscreening of: Playground
panel discussion
Open to the Public

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day Agenda
January 11, 2010
1:00 - 8:30 PM
The Ohio State University, College of Social Work
Stillman Hall, Room 115