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Director of the Counter Trafficking Unit Alana Wheeler is appealing to locals to be alert and look for the subtle signs human traffickers are using to trap people in this vicious cycle.
Addressing the audience during a Human Trafficking Workshop hosted by Soroptimist International at the Ken Gordon School of Journalism and Communication Studies, Port-of-Spain, on Saturday, Wheeler and Authorised Officer Jerome Ramdular urged the teenagers present to become each other’s keeper.
The conference was held ahead of World Day Against Trafficking In Persons, which is being celebrated today under the theme “Responding to the Trafficking of Children and Young People.”
During her presentation, Wheeler spoke of the various methods used to “groom” victims and also outlined what people should look for to determine if they or anyone they know could become potential victims of human trafficking.
Ramdular meanwhile advised the females present to find strength in numbers, as he said perpetrators would often target and isolate people who appeared to be weak and needy. He said when others came together to fulfil the needs of someone in a vulnerable situation, this would greatly reduce the opportunity for traffickers to prey and profit on the weakened individual.
The two presented several real-life scenarios as they spoke of having to visit local schools after sexually explicit videos and pictures of underage girls were posted online, and of also having to counsel families whose daughters found themselves in similar situations.
Ramdular and Wheeler also advised of red flags to look for, such as underage/young girls moving about with much older men; underage/young girls living/staying with boyfriends and also underage/young girls working very closely for and with older men who were not relatives.
Ramdular also spoke of the elaborate schemes used to ensnare victims, such as money being paid for “personal” favours up-front and even newspaper and online advertisements promising things that appeared too good to be true. He urged vigilance on what personal information and pictures people post online as it could be misused.
Saturday’s attendees included girls from Sophia House, St Dominic’s Home, St Jude’s Home for Girls and Amica Home for Girls.
With millions of children, women and men falling into the hands of traffickers yearly after being lured by fake promises and deceit, the United Nations said it affects nearly every country in the world.
Officials estimated there were millions of people whose liberty, dignity and essential human rights had been stolen after they were coerced into sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude, forced begging and stealing and even compelled to “sell” skin and organs.
Vowing to change that, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said its focus remained on the trafficking of children and young people.
In his message for today’s occasion, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said trafficking in persons was a “vile crime that feeds on inequalities, instability and conflict.”
He said human traffickers profit from people’s hopes and despair while preying on the vulnerable and robbing them of their fundamental rights.
Guterres said children and young people, migrants and refugees were especially susceptible, with women and girls being targeted again and again.
“We see brutal sexual exploitation, including involuntary prostitution, forced marriage and sexual slavery. We see the appalling trade in human organs,” Guterres said.
He warned that human trafficking took many forms and knows no borders, adding perpetrators often operated with impunity because their crimes received not nearly enough attention.
He said, “This must change.”
The UN, he said, is committed to advancing action to bring traffickers to justice while protecting and supporting their victims, whose rights of victims must come first.
In their proposed Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration to be adopted in December, Guterres said member states had also demonstrated resolve to prevent, combat and eradicate trafficking in persons in the context of international migration.
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Human trafficking is one of the fastest-growing activities of transnational criminal organisations and has been internationally referred to as “modern-day slavery.”
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), forced labour, which is only one component of human trafficking, generated an estimated $150 billion in profit in 2014. In 2012, the ILO estimated that 21 million victims were trapped in the multi-billion dollar system.