People
have previously believed that combating prostitution is the same as combating
human trafficking. It isn’t.
For example, a small group of people in
Washington D.C. noticed a brothel disguised as a spa had opened up in their
neighborhood. By occasionally catching
glimpses of the girls, they came to suspect that the young women in question
might have been victims of human trafficking.
They were morally outraged, so they filed a petition at Change.org to
force the business to yank up its roots from their neighborhood, close their
doors and go somewhere else.
What did this group of people
accomplish? Well, they made it so their
husbands would have to drive a little further to pay for sex. They repaired the reputation of their
presumably pure and noble neighborhood.
Did they do anything that helped the girls
and/or women they suspected were being held against their will in order to be
repeatedly sold into sexual bondage?
No.
They did nothing that could be considered helping those women victimized
by human trafficking.
Visibility creates accountability. Letting potential traffickers know that they
were being targeted for suspicion of human trafficking doesn’t mean that they’re
going to close up shop and never do business again. It means they’re going to go further
underground to sell their wares without attracting suspicion from a nosy
neighborhood.
If those women were slaves, they may never be
seen again. An opportunity to help them
has been lost.
It’s too bad Change.org doesn’t have a Wall
of Shame.
This situation highlights how important it is
to know how to approach a situation where human trafficking is suspected. If someone truly wants to help, it is
important for them to know how best to help the people involved, and that
usually starts by contacting organizations that specifically deal with the
issue, such as the Polaris Project. If you
or anyone you know has suspicions about a potential human trafficking
situation, or if you yourself are or have been a victim of human trafficking,
call the Polaris Project Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.
