USA
Slavery of sexual trafficking finds its way into Minnesota
Minnesota fosters an environment ripe for modern-day slavery, more commonly known as human trafficking. In 2003, the National Institute of Justice named the Twin Cities as one of the most vulnerable areas for sexual trafficking of women in the United States
Slavery of sexual trafficking finds its way into Minnesota
Minnesota fosters an environment ripe for modern-day slavery, more commonly known as human trafficking. In 2003, the National Institute of Justice named the Twin Cities as one of the most vulnerable areas for sexual trafficking of women in the United States. As a native Minnesotan, I never thought of Minnesota as a major destination area for human rights violations such as sexual trafficking. I was wrong.
What is sex trafficking? The State Department defines trafficking as "the recruitment, harboring, transportation and provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act." Trafficking is typically characterized by the trafficker's use of force, abuse, coercion and imprisonment of victims. Human trafficking includes forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor and mail-order brides.
In Minnesota, trafficking victims are prone to sex trafficking. Minneapolis and St. Paul have dangerously high street prostitution activity, a large number of saunas, strip clubs, escort services and dwellings for quick prostitution called "chicken shacks."
Minnesota police report a growing prevalence of Russian women in strip clubs, Korean-run massage parlors and saunas, and Vietnamese, Hmong and Spanish-speaking underground sex industries. In Greater Minnesota, there are reports of forced prostitution of Mexican women in migrant farms and Native American prostitution in Duluth's port area.
Why should we care? The magnitude of the problem is alarming. Although its covert operations make trafficking difficult to quantify, the U.S. government estimates that 45,000 to 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States annually. Human trafficking is a threat to U.S. national security. It is a transnational organized crime, linked to other crimes such as drug trafficking, illegal firearms and black-market operations.
Trafficked victims typically are recruited in areas plagued by poverty and instability. Traffickers prey on the inability of these vulnerable populations, especially women, to protect and provide for themselves. They offer promises of employment, money, travel and better lifestyles to lure these women to other countries such as the United States.
They commonly obtain letters of employment along with fraudulent visas and passports for their victims. The fees for these documents are so high that many victims remain indentured to their traffickers.
Many victims do not speak English and have little education, no contacts in the United States and little access to law enforcement personnel. These abused victims do not trust authority figures such as the police. Further, the victims are traditionally prosecuted as criminals, when in reality they are victims of trafficking.
What troubles me is the lack of concern for sexual trafficking in the United States. Many Americans do not see this as "their" problem. They think the issue of trafficking is something that affects "other" people in other parts of the world. Few want to admit that within the most powerful country in the world, people are suffering from the atrocity of slavery. But the reality is that we provide an environment where traffickers can make a large profit from the sex industry. The trafficking industry has made substantial profits from the resale of people. The UN calls the trafficking industry the fastest growing segment of international organized crime, generating billions of dollars a year for traffickers.
The unfortunate reality is that the demand for the sex industry has capitalized off of the vulnerability of oppressed people. Traffickers sell a person's right to human dignity by objectifying her into a commodity. Traffickers make higher profits from selling people than selling tangible goods.
As both Minnesotans and Americans, we must take action to uncover and expose sexual traffickers within our borders. The Minnesota House of Representatives will discuss proposed legislation to strengthen the punishment for traffickers.
The war on terror presupposes that we, as Americans, believe in the right to life, liberty and freedom of all people. We call for the liberation of Iraqis, but neglect to address the freedom of enslaved people in the United States.
We need to create stricter punishments for traffickers and work to uncover these covert operations. By working to abolish the enslavement of people, we can elicit greater international support for the anti-trafficking movement, protect our national security, and serve as a model for other countries.