Human Trafficking
Outreach workers' discussion
Monday January 11, 2016 was Human Trafficking Awareness Day. There was an event at City Hall Worcester to provide information and solutions to this issue. It was not quite what I had expected as prostitution was included as a part of human trafficking. Human Trafficking is described by the United Nation as a crime against humanity. The issue for Worcester is for the most part is prostitution.
The crime of human trafficking as defined by the United Nations goes well beyond prostitution.
“Trafficking in Persons as the 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, 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”
As a crime, human trafficking has the following elements:
Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons
The Means (How it is done)
Threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or giving payments or benefits to a person in control of the victim
The Purpose (Why it is done)
For the purpose of exploitation, which includes exploiting the prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labor, slavery or similar practices and the removal of organs..
Captain Paul Saucier of the Worcester Police said that in 2015 the Worcester Police arrested 72 people for prostitution related violations. Of that number were 49 men. The Captain said that the policy had changed from only arresting women to a policy of also arresting the men buying sex. The idea is to reduce the demand and to discourage men coming to Worcester to buy sex.
In 2014 the number of prostitutes arrested was 149; the number of men buying sex arrested by the Worcester Police was 15. In 2013 the numbers were 176 arrests of prostitutes and 3 arrests of johns.
He also said that the Worcester Police was coordinating with the outreach workers from the several organizations with programs to help the prostitutes. Outreach workers accompany the Police on their monthly arrests of prostitutes and johns.
The outreach workers call people who leave the life of prostitution “survivors”. The Woo Church on Main St., the YWCA, and UMass Hospital have services for the survivors. These organizations and others form the Worcester Alliance of Anti-Sexual Exploitation (WAASE). The members of the Alliance are the following:
Ascentria Care Alliance (formerly Lutheran Social Services of New England)
Ms. Bell
Nicole Bell, an outreach worker and survivor, spoke at the Human Trafficking Awareness Day event. She told her story of how she came to Worcester for treatment, but then was lured into a life of prostitution. While a prostitute she was banned from the grounds of Clark University. As an outreach worker, Ms. Bell now has taken classes at Clark University. She was clearly happy with this positive reversal.
Ms. Bell works with Ms. Athena Haddon, program director at Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center located at UMass Hospital Campus. Ms. Bell also works with Lora Glen at the Woo Church, where a support group of survivors meet.
Ms. Amarely Gutierrez Oliver, Director of Domestic Violence Services, Daybreak/YWCA, in an electronic interview had these comments about how people especially women are lured or forced into prostitution.
“The term “sexual exploitation” means: any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. Based on this definition it provides some ideas of how survivors are lured into this work. In the training The Ray of light it shows the following methods of recruitment:
· Love Con ~ he is starting a relationship where she believes she has met the man of her dreams (usually older) who makes promises and poses as her boyfriend. His goal is to make her feel indebted to him and feel guilty if she ever questions his motives
· Other examples of other methods of recruitment (e.g., A teenager is recruited by another girl in a homeless youth drop-in center, who has been sent there by her pimp to recruit other girls)
· The sole use of physical force (kidnapping, etc.) is not a primary method of recruitment, although it does happen. Physical force is more often used in the context of a violent relationship that is coercive in many other psychological ways as well.
· Grooming” (gradual entry) May start with compliments, watching pornography, sexual experimentation, Stripping (for trafficker, in clubs, for other men) and posing for semi-nude or nude photos, Massage with “happy endings”, Prostitution, Substances to block awareness and resistance
· “Breaking down” initiation (more abrupt), Removal from supports and familiar surroundings, Verbal and emotional abuse
· Physical abuse, Rape or gang rape: Often a combination of the two”
When asked why is Main South has a concentration of prostitution, there was no clear answer. Although Ms.Heidi Sue LeBoeuf, MSW, LSW-Director of Counseling, Pathways for Change, Inc, gave this opinion,
“This has been the case for as long as I can recall. I am unsure if there has ever been research into this, regardless of where we are seeing the majority of sexually exploited individuals, that is just one facet of a neighborhood and Worcester has so much to offer. This is why the work WAASE is doing is so vital. The goal is not just about building systems for ending crime, but supporting those being victimized, like sexually exploited women. Ensuring comprehensive and multifaceted interventions is what will help individuals get on the path to recovery and make Worcester an unwelcomed place for sex exploitation.”
Captain Saucier indicated that prostitution was growing concern on the Craigslist and social media.
A question of male prostitution brought this response from Ms., LeBoeuf,
“Sexual exploitation does not discriminate based on gender. Those who are being sexually exploited in Worcester include all genders. Much of the work has initially focused on female survivors, but that is shifting. The work being done through WAASE in developing supportive interventions will benefit all survivors, regardless of gender.”
Male prostitution is an issue for which many in Worcester are not yet able to address.
Although there seems also to be a lack of quantifiable evidence of the success rates for the survivors, the number of survivors reached by WAASE was over 100 between December 2014 and November 2015
.
It is estimated that over 900 sex trafficking incidents had taken place in Suffolk County alone. Many of the victims are minors. The magnitude of the problem could be inferred from this number.
The work against Human Trafficking is also being done in the State legislature where a bill is making its way through committees. The new law would criminalize the actions of anyone who entices, recruits, harbors or transports anyone for the purpose of commercial sexual activity. It also includes a “safe harbor” provision for people under 18 charged under the state’s prostitution statutes.
Hopefully there will be an end to Human Trafficking and exploitation of every kind. We should applaud those working to achieve these ends.
