October 30, 2023

306 – Survivor Voices Leading Change, with Jerome Elam

30 minutes

Dr. Sandie Morgan is joined by Jerome Elam as the two discuss the importance of advocating for male victims of trafficking.

Jerome Elam

Jerome Elam is president and CEO of Trafficking in America Task Force, Child Sex Trafficking Survivor, Survivor Leader, recipient of the Award for Courage presented by the National Council of Jewish Women, a member of ECPAT Global Survivors Forum, a member of ECPAT Global Network of Survivor Led Organizations. He’s a staff writer and columnist for Community’s Digital News, a special adviser to the Utah Attorney General, a Marine Corps veteran, recipient of the US Attorney General’s Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award for Anti Trafficking work, and chosen as one of New York’s New Abolitionists.

Key Points

The Warsaw Human Dimension Conference unites 57 OSCE member countries to report on how they’ve been addressing human trafficking and it is global in attendance.

Human trafficking is multifaceted because there is forced criminality involved, making it less likely for men and boys to be identified as survivors.

Jerome Elam describes grooming as psychological quicksand in which the predator grooms the victim through the five stages listed in the episode.

Because of the shame that surrounds male victims, they are less likely to disclose the crimes, and through the grooming of a child’s environment, the victim is less likely to be believed by the adults around them.

Resources

Trafficking in America Task Force

National Council of Jewish Women

ECPAT Global Survivors Forum

ECPAT Global Network of Survivor Led Organizations

Communities Digital News

Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe’s Office

Human Dimensions Conference

National Referral Mechanisms

OSCE ODIHR

Safe Harbor Laws

304 – European Perspectives, with Ioana Bauer

Jerome Elam in “The Silence”

The Clown and The Candy Man

Survivor Voices of Human Trafficking

Jerome Elam: UN World Day Against Human Trafficking

Jerome Elam: New York’s New Abolitionists

Transcript

Sandra Morgan 0:00

You are listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast episode #306: Survivor Voices Leading Change, with Jerome Elam.

Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast here at Vanguard University’s Global Center for Women and Justice in Orange County, California. My name is Sandie Morgan and this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Our guest today is Jerome Elam. He is president and CEO of Trafficking in America Task Force, Child Sex Trafficking Survivor, Survivor Leader, recipient of the Award for Courage presented by the National Council of Jewish Women, a member of ECPAT Global Survivors Forum, a member of ECPAT Global Network of Survivor Led Organizations. He’s a staff writer and columnist for Community’s Digital News, a special adviser to the Utah Attorney General, a Marine Corps veteran, recipient of the US Attorney General’s Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award for Anti Trafficking work, and chosen as one of New York’s New Abolitionists. He’s so much more and you’re going to learn about that in our conversation. Welcome to the show, Jerome.

Jerome Elam 1:59

Thank you Sandie, it’s an honor to be here.

Sandra Morgan 2:01

You just came back from Warsaw, Poland for the OSCE Conference, there’s 57 member countries. Tell us what that is, why you were there, and maybe a couple of other things I’m going to ask you.

Jerome Elam 2:17

Absolutely. Thank you for that question. The Warsaw Human Dimension Conference is a yearly conference that is put on by the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe’s Office of Democratic Initiatives and Human Rights, that brings together the 57 member countries of the OSCE where we can basically give them a report card on how they’re doing in terms of addressing human trafficking. So one of the things I’ve been really grateful for is opportunity to work on what we call the National Referral Manual, which is a guide book used by the 57 member countries of the OSCE to help combat human trafficking. We are able, at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, to talk to these countries about how they’re following the guidelines, how they’re doing combating human trafficking, and to give them any guidance we can to help them improve their approach to it.

Sandra Morgan 3:09

Well, who’s we? Because I know you’re there, I know a few other people, it’s not all survivors.

Jerome Elam 3:16

No, exactly. I am grateful, I’m actually in my second term as a member of the OSCE OHDIR, survivors of trafficking Advisory Council. But I was at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference as a member of the Council, but also as a member of Civil Society, representing my nonprofit Tafficking America Task Force. The global community can attend this conference and really talk about these important issues, and we both know that human trafficking is evolving faster than the law can keep up with it. So we’re here to talk about how to institute cutting edge approaches to keeping innocent victims from being scooped up by human traffickers and exploited. This is the world community. There were people there from all over the world and I was grateful that we all shared that singular passion to bring it into human trafficking.

Sandra Morgan 3:32

And just recently, we interviewed Ioana Bauer and she’s been a participant there too. So in the show notes for o...

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