On a sidewalk in Worcester, Mass., Rebekah Corey (cen- ter), human traffick- ing case manager, and attorney Julie Dahlstrom counsel Lucia, a survivor of human trafficking, on her next steps toward employment and legal status in the U.S.
survivors to leave their countries and strike out for a new future,” said attorney Julie Dahlstrom, who directs the LSS Human Trafficking Legal Assistance Center. “Ultimately, this is the same courage that propels them to succeed here. Although emerging from exploitation can be extremely difficult, these survivors, like Lucia, have defied the odds … to tell their stories and assist law enforcement. “The initial goal is to acquire
the T visa, which supports them for four years and puts them on the road to lawful permanent residence and eventual citizenship.” Last November, Massachusetts
Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation with new criminal statutes for offend- ers and the establishment of a “Safe Harbor” for minors exploited through the commercial sex industry. The legislation will strengthen the legal center’s ability to identify survivors and ensure they have the resources to build a successful life in the U.S. Massachusetts is among 45 states that have enacted laws to not only prohibit but also criminalize human trafficking, according to the Polaris Project. At presstime, only West Vir- ginia and Wyoming remained with- out human trafficking legislation. Meanwhile, the Lutheran agency provides support for survivors, which includes pro bono legal assistance and a menu of social services, Dahlstrom said. “Once Lucia receives her T visa, she will be able to send for her son,” she said. “That and becoming finan- cially independent [is] her goal.” M
Trafficking: The numbers H
uman trafficking comes in two forms, according to the Polaris
Project (
www.polarisproject.org): sex and labor. It says those most vulnerable to trafficking are undoc- umented migrants, runaway and homeless youth, and oppressed, marginalized and/or impoverished groups and individuals.
How many? The U.S. State Department estimates that 14,500 to 17,500 people, primarily women and children, are trafficked to the U.S. each year. Calls to the Polaris Proj- ect’s National Human Trafficking Resource Center more than dou- bled from 5,748 in 2008 to 11,874 in 2010, the last year for which figures are available. It’s almost impossible to accu- rately estimate the number of people who are trafficked since the majority are still underground, but
the U.N. Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking estimates that: • 2.5 million people worldwide are in forced labor. • 1.2 million of the world’s children are trafficked annually. • 95 percent of those trafficked expe- rienced physical or sexual violence. • 43 percent of those trafficked are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98 percent are women and girls. • 32 percent of victims are used for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56 percent are women and girls.
Resources • National Human Trafficking Hot- line: 888-373-7888, staffed 24 hours. • Lutheran Social Services Human Trafficking Legal Assistance Center:
www.LSSNE.org.
Martha Lindberg Mann
Definition Trafficking includes both: a) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the per- son induced is a minor, and b) the recruitment, harboring, transporta- tion, provision or obtaining of a per- son for labor or services through the use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or
slavery. (SOURCE: U.S. TRAFFICKING VICTIMS PROTECTION AND REAUTHORIZATION ACTS)
▪ March 2012 35
JOHN MOTTERN
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