Stop the Sale of Women: Combat Trafficking in the U.S.

September 19, 2007

By Melody Drnach, Action Vice President and
Lateshia Beachum, Communications Intern

Trade, a new feature film starring Kevin Kline, tells the story of a 13-year-old girl who is kidnapped by sex traffickers from her home in Mexico City and the brother who works desperately to find her. NOW is working with Roadside Attractions to promote the film and bring attention to the epidemic of sex trafficking in this country. There is a special screening organized by NOW-NYC on Friday, September 21 in Manhattan -- learn more. The film opens in select cities on September 28 and NOW activists are encouraged to see the movie opening weekend, as large opening attendance encourages wider distribution.

Sadly, the subject of Trade is not fiction. Instead it is the tragic reality for an estimated 800,000 people worldwide, primarily women and children.

Traffickers lure women with promises of jobs as nannies or in restaurants, promising them a better life in a new country. Often the women pay significant sums of money in a desperate attempt to escape extreme poverty or dangerous living conditions, or simply for the "opportunity" presented by the traffickers. Some are kidnapped and transported across borders.

Whether taken by trickery or by force, these women and children often find themselves in a city where they don't speak the language, where there isn't a job waiting, and where they are in debt to threatening thugs. Often their passports have been confiscated, limiting their ability to escape. Many of these women and girls are hidden residents of our own communities and, unlike in the film, there is not always a positive outcome.

It is difficult for local activists to obtain accurate information about the nature and magnitude of the problem of human trafficking in their communities, and published statistics likely represent an underestimation. According to a 2007 U.S. State Department "Trafficking in Persons Report," an estimated 800,000 women, children, and men are trafficked across international borders annually and the trade is growing. Of the hundreds of thousands of people trafficked across international borders each year, 80 percent are female and 50 percent are children. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade, according to government reports. While each year there are an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals trafficked into the U.S., the Department of Justice estimates that the number of U.S. citizens trafficked within our country each year is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 U.S. children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry.

State and Local Efforts

One of the leaders in this fight is the NOW-New York City chapter president, Sonia Ossorio,.whose chapter members designed and implemented an aggressive campaign called "Ending the Business of Trafficking". With this ambitious campaign, they set out to pass a state law that recognized trafficking as a crime (which passed in June of 2007), increase public education on this modern-day slavery, collect trafficking victims' stories, assess how state agencies are identifying, tracking and prioritizing this issue, shed light on how the trafficking industry is part of the local economy, and identify the legitimate companies that do business with traffickers. According to Ossorio, "New York City is consistently named as one of the top cities that traffickers use as both a point of entry into the U.S., as a transit location, and as a final destination point for their victims. According to the U.S. Justice Department, New York City's JFK Airport is a main trafficking hub. Trafficking is not just an international problem. It's happening throughout New York State and City."

NOW-NYC has been in the streets holding rallies and protests, and hosting movie screenings and panel discussions, to raise awareness of the impact of trafficking in their community. Other key components of the campaign include meetings with city leaders and pressure on publications that profit from advertising services that encourage human trafficking. In March they introduced to New York publications their "Trafficking Free NYC" pledge. Those publications that signed have pledged not advertise brothels and be free of human traffic services promotions by 2010.

Other states and chapters have more recently organized task force activities and joined coalitions committed to ending sex trafficking. Rhode Island NOW has recently ramped up action: "We have joined the 'RI Coalition Against Human Trafficking' and we are launching an education and outreach bureau that will address the issue of human trafficking in our state," says RI NOW President Carolyn Mark. "Our legislative group is focused on ensuring that any legislation passed related to human trafficking does not have unintended consequences for victims," says Mark.

The fight to end human trafficking will be long and difficult and requires the talents and energy of NOW activists everywhere. We hope that the movie Trade will encourage even more activists to join the fight against trafficking in their communities.