Ending Human Trafficking

Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss what addressing human trafficking on the front lines actually looks like and the dangers of jumping in before you have studied the issues.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Transcript

Dave: Hello everyone, you’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, this is episode number eleven recorded in September 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking Podcast, my name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie: And I am Sandie Morgan.

Dave: And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, it is getting towards the end of summer, and that means we are well into fall and that means the start of the new school year at Vanguard University.

Sandie: We are in full swing and its great to have students back on campus and my office is full every day because they want to do something to make a difference.

Dave: And it’s a good time for us to talk about before we jump in today’s topic on really looking into the frontline issues on how we can really fight against human trafficking, I thought we’d take a few minutes maybe to talk a bit about what the center is doing this year to really support advocacy against human trafficking, but also some of the other things you’re working on and the projects you’re involved with. The center had its first board meeting this week, and we all got together. I’m just tremendously excited about all of the things that the center has planned for this year, so I was wondering if you could maybe take a couple of moments to share with us and the audience a few things that you’re up to this year, in addition to the podcast and your teaching that the center is focused on.

Sandie: Well, over the summer we were able to host four women faculty from a Northern Iraq university, and one of the exciting aspects of that is we went to Washington DC, we were able to meet with a team from the Global Trafficking and persons office in the state department, and as a result of that, we’ll be able to develop some partnership research in that region on human trafficking.

Dave: It was really exciting to meet the women this summer and to hear their stories, really just an amazing group of folks we’ve had.

Sandie: And this is one of the key things about the Global Center for Women and Justice is through research and education we can impact our own community, our nation, and our world and make a difference, one of the things we’re doing locally, cause, of course, its exciting to see what we’re doing over in Iraq, but what about right here, and coming up in November, were going to host a homeless sleep-out to raise awareness about the issue of homeless youth, and right here in California according to state reports there are 200,000 juveniles 12-17 who are homeless. We want to raise awareness about that, attention, and dialogue because the prevention of homelessness among youth is a key factor in preventing the trafficking of youth.

Dave: And what is a homeless sleep-out? I’ve never been to one of those.

Sandie: well, were going to invite our students and anybody in our community to join us, to bring their sleeping bag and were going to have a contest for who can build the best cardboard shelter, were probably going to eat soup, we might figure out how to get some day-old bread for breakfast, but were going to figure out what it feels like to sleep outside, to not have a place to go home to.

Dave: So, really a lot of things on the agenda, and I know tons more that we don’t have a chance to talk about here today, but just a tremendous number of things that you’re doing not only on the local level here in Southern California but really across the globe to really be an advocate to women and men around this issue of human trafficking and doing it in a substantial, proactive way.

Sandie: And we’re really focusing on equipping people by providing training and education, training and education. Were already training our Live2Free students who are already scheduled to do the Orange County high school leadership conference called “Walk in My Shoes”, they’ll go to high schools and junior highs, equipping and training leaders in outreach, frontline service providers and nationally as well, so, that’s what we’re up to.

Dave: And this podcast is really that mission of equipping people and helping people to study the issues and educating this audience on what is it, w...

Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak interview Cindy and Chris Haughey from Tegu to discuss how businesses can play an important role in ending human trafficking. The Haughey’s talk about why and how they started their business and the positive outcomes they have seen since.

Key Points

Resources

Transcript

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 10, recorded in July 2011.

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:25] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandra Morgan [00:00:30] And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:32] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. And Sandie, we have some great guests with us today to really help provide some wonderful perspective on some of the things we talked about last time. The push factors, the supply side of human trafficking. And so, I’m so excited that we have folks who are out there really being amazing advocates for this.

Sandra Morgan [00:01:00] Well, it’s fun to talk to friends living in Honduras, working on really wonderful models for prevention. I am very happy to introduce Cindy and Chris Haughey. And I’m sure I’ve mispronounced their name again, but they’ll fix that for me. I want to tell you how I met Cindy. She was doing the Hands that Heal train the trainer with us at Vanguard at the Global Center for Women in Justice and working on anti-human trafficking efforts as part of the coalition in Los Angeles. When she introduced me to Chris, and they eventually got married, I was absolutely fascinated with his incredible grasp of how far back up the stream we have to go to really make a difference. And his story is an excellent model of how we can start to make a difference if we’re patient in a way that will have really long-term sustainable results. So we want to dive right into this. And the first thing I want to do is ask each of you to give us a little bit of a bio. Just tell us who you are and get acquainted with folks.

Chris Haughey [00:02:22] Sure, we’d be happy to. My name is Chris Haughey and I’m one of the founders of Tegu, which is a wooden toy company with manufacturing based here in Honduras. Cindy and I live here and I’ve been running the factory here for a couple of years. Tegu really aims to be the world’s most innovative premium toy company. And we’re currently doing that by making some really cool magnetic wooden blocks. But prior to doing this, I was living in Los Angeles and working as a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. And Tegu brought me down here.

Cindy Haughey [00:02:59] And I’m Cindy Haughey and as you mentioned, Sandie, Chris and I recently got married a year and a half ago. And prior to that, I was living in Los Angeles working for Mosaic Church, as well as Los Angeles County Unity Coalition, and for anti-human trafficking. And ever since then, I really just had an interest in being an advocate for that issue. And now I’m living in Honduras and helping Chris with Tegu.

Sandra Morgan [00:03:27] So, Chris, when you told me about Tegu, your vision was much bigger than just making toys and making money. Can you tell me about some of the background to starting and how you chose to do this in Honduras?

Chris Haughey [00:03:51] Yeah. Tegu does have a larger vision than simply running a profitable company, making some cool toys. The idea really started with experience that I had in Honduras with a ministry in home for street boys. There’s a pretty big street kid population in Honduras and specifically in Tegucigalpa, the capital city. And my initial connection was in 2004 with that home. It led to some relationships being formed as the missionaries working there. Such that when I was back on business in 2006, an idea came up to try and start a for-profit business that would begin to generate jobs and extend the mission of the street boys home so that those boys coming out of the home and others like them would actually have some economic opportunities for themselves to earn a living wage at a purposeful and well-paying job, which is a real need in Honduras. So it really kind of started with an awareness that there are serious social needs. There’s a lot of poverty. And in particular, there’s over 30 percent unemployment here. And therefore, one of the biggest impacts that you can have on the society is creating an entrepreneurial business that over time will grow and will employ people as opposed to poor Hondurans without jobs, looking for other means of sustained sustainment for themselves, such as getting involved in the drug trafficking scene or other illegal activities, or for that matter, tend to go to the states where they think they might find better opportunities for themselves.

Dave Stachowiak [00:05:32] Sandie, I’m struck by what Chris just sai...

Sandra Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the “push” factors behind human trafficking. They then look at how good prevention models address these vulnerabilities in the community to prevent the likelihood of someone being trafficked.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Transcript

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 9, recorded in July, 2011.

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:22] Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandra Morgan [00:00:27] And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:29] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking.

Dave Stachowiak [00:00:38] Hello, Sandie, welcome back for our ninth episode together. Hard to believe, huh?

Sandra Morgan [00:00:43] Yeah, it’s great. I’m getting really into this. I love the opportunity to have a dialouge. And I love the responses that we’re receiving from people. And I appreciate that. And I want to encourage people, if you have a question, a comment, or a suggestion on the kinds of topics you’d like to hear more about, please email us at [email protected] or call us at 714-556-3610, extension 2242.

Dave Stachowiak [00:01:14] And today we are going to be looking at a couple of key factors in what causes human trafficking. And the more we can keep ourselves educated, Sandie, the more that we can really understand what are the factors we could also approach on ending human trafficking. And we’re going to be talking today about the push factors and the pull factors that are involved with human trafficking. And that’s the terminology that the that folks are really advocates are using, correct?

Sandra Morgan [00:01:44] Exactly, exactly. And of course, that the closest real-life example of what this is all related to is in business when you talk about the law of supply and demand. And we talked about that in an earlier podcast. Human trafficking is big business. It’s about people making money. And so you have to begin to understand what makes someone, a person, a human being, part of a supply chain for a big business, something that is considered a commodity that can be bought and sold. How do we begin to identify the patterns that result in a person being sold? And those issues are things we want to address as push factors. So we’re going to leave the trafficker to the side today. We’re going to not focus on how to identify or rescue victims who are already being trafficked. But if we want to end human trafficking, we have to go further upstream to prevention models. And that means we need to understand how someone becomes so easily accessible to become part of a supply chain. What are the push factors for that?

Dave Stachowiak [00:03:04] This is I think for me, it’s the language is always a little awkward just because usually when we’re talking about supply and demand and supply chains, we’re talking about parts and raw materials, and just in time supply chains and major corporations. And unfortunately, those same concepts are happening in human trafficking because it is such a profitable enterprise and it really is an enterprise. That’s what’s driving a lot of the trafficking is the profit that’s involved, Sandie. And so it’s, although it’s odd that we’re using this language to talk about human beings, we have to in order to really understand the full scope of this issue. And it comes right down to Econ 101: Supply and Demand. And so, I’m glad we’re looking at this to really get a good feel for that.

Sandra Morgan [00:03:57] And you bring up a really good point because it’s a dehumanizing activity and that makes this issue a human rights activity. What we’re doing is speaking up for the rights of others. And these are people who are created in the image of God. And one person has that stamp just like another person. And so there’s no difference in the value between a child born on the west coast of Africa and a child born here in Southern California.

Dave Stachowiak [00:04:30] And so today we’re going to be looking at the push factors, correct? And that’s the that’s the supply side of the demand-supply equation and kind of the law of supply and demand, correct?

Sandra Morgan [00:04:40] Exactl...

Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak interview Tiffany Wong, past president of Live2Free at Vanguard University. They discuss fair trade products, Live2free’s mission, and their approach to community and school presentations.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 8, recorded in July 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:28] And my name is Sandra Morgan.

Dave [00:00:30] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, glad to be back with you again today to talk more about how we can play a role, all of us in ending human trafficking and continuing our conversation about partnership that we had from episode number 7.

Sandie [00:00:52] And one of the groups that we want to make sure we develop opportunities for reaching out and having partnerships with is our young people that are students in high schools and colleges and universities.

Dave [00:01:06] And that’s actually the focus of our topic today is talking with someone who’s been an integral role of really raising awareness on about human trafficking and how we can all play a part in ending human trafficking and not just at the government level and with large organizations, but also the student level and raising awareness among college students who not only can learn about this issue, but can really be strong advocates for being able to address it. And we have a guest here today to speak to that.

Sandie [00:01:38] And I have to really key off of your words strong advocates, strength in energy and in passion and in commitment. And when we offer opportunities for university, college and high school students to get involved, they can do hands and feet work that some of us who are a little more worn might not have the same kind of capacity and energy level to complete. So I’m very excited to introduce Tiffany Wong who was this past year’s president at Live2Free Club at Vanguard University and actually received congressional recognition for her work on this and in the area of outreach and awareness in Orange County.

Dave [00:02:24] Very cool.

Sandie [00:02:25] So, Tiffany, welcome.

Tiffany [00:02:27] Hi.

Sandie [00:02:29] So, Tiffany, I have a list of questions here I want to ask you. I think that I want people to know a little bit about you. And did you have a background in human trafficking when you first started working with Live2Free?

Tiffany [00:02:45] No. And I actually barely knew anything about human trafficking. And it was only after some time with the club that taking a human trafficking class that I learned quite a lot.

Sandie [00:02:58] So and I also want folks to know that you’re bilingual. What other language do you speak?

Tiffany [00:03:05] I speak Cantonese and English.

Sandie [00:03:08] Cantonese. So, but you can understand Mandarin as well, right? Chinese.

Tiffany [00:03:15] Well, that’s one of my goals.

Sandie [00:03:17] One of your goals. That was a really important and important aspect of what we could deliver as as a club in our community. So let’s talk about when you heard about human trafficking and you really wanted to do something, how did Live2Free provide that opportunity for you?

Tiffany [00:03:40] Well, Live2Free goes out to schools and talks to students about human trafficking. And then we also they also did a like a summer internship where they went to clinics and have a clinic, police departments and libraries where they were able to speak to the bigger community about human trafficking.

Sandie [00:04:06] So that ...

Learn the meaning behind the fourth “P” in the just-released Trafficking in Persons Report from the U.S. State Department. Sandra Morgan Dave Stachowiak discuss the importance of partnerships in ending human trafficking and cite a number of examples and opportunities for partnership.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Transcript

Dave Stachowiak 0:00

Sandra Morgan 0:27

Dave Stachowiak 0:33

Sandra Morgan 0:56

Dave Stachowiak 1:31

Sandra Morgan 2:50

Dave Stachowiak 2:57

Sandra Morgan 3:30

Dave Stachowiak 4:12

Sandra Morgan 4:14

Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak hear from survivor advocate, Maria Suarez. She courageously shares her story through the Maria Suarez Foundation to mobilize communities through a prevention approach of education and empowerment to eradicate slavery.

Key Points

Resources

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 6, Recording in June 2010.  Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:31] And my name is Sandra Morgan.

Dave [00:00:33] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, glad to be back with you for another episode of the podcast.

Sandie [00:00:44] Well, I’m glad to be here too. I am especially excited because we have a guest, Maria Suarez, with us today.

Dave [00:00:51] And we actually have her on the line, and I’m going to give you an opportunity to introduce her, Sandie.

Sandie [00:00:58] Okay. Maria Suarez is a survivor advocate of human trafficking. And so, her story is very important to helping us understand why human trafficking continues to grow globally. Maria, hello.

Maria [00:01:17] Hello.

Sandie [00:01:18] I’m so glad this is working out. And we have her on telephone. And I love technology because nobody had to get in a car and drive through all the traffic. So, it’s really great to have you. Maria, I want to ask you some questions about when you were trafficked. And first of all, we’ll start with where were you born?

Maria [00:01:40] I was born in this little village in Michoacán, which that little village doesn’t even exist on the map now.

Sandie [00:01:49] So, it’s not even on the map. How many people lived in that village?

Maria [00:01:53] At that time when I was there, it was probably like five hundred people.

Sandie [00:01:58] And your sister left the village, didn’t she?

Maria [00:02:03] She left the village when I was probably in diapers. She came to Mexico City. Then from there she came to the United States to make a better life. And she got married and was living in the United States when I got here.

Sandie [00:02:21] And how old were you when your sister sent for you?

Maria [00:02:25] I was in my early 16s, in other words, I was 15.

Sandie [00:02:31] So, you were 15 years old and you came to live with your sister in California?

Maria [00:02:39] Correct.

Sandie [00:02:39] And you came across on a real visa?

Maria [00:02:44] Yes, I had my passport.

Sandie [00:02:47] So, this is something I think is important for our listeners to understand, is that lots of victims of human trafficking come here legally on their own and then they’re trafficked afterwards. So, you were 16 and you were living with your sister. How many days had you actually been here in the United States?

Maria [00:03:13] I was in the United States for not even a month. I probably was here for like 2-3 weeks.

Sandie [00:03:20] And how well did you speak English by that time?

Maria [00:03:25] Zero.

Sandie [00:03:27] So, tell us about how you met someone who began to recruit you.

Maria [00:03:37] Walking on the street, I met a woman who offered me a job. I got very happy that I thought I was going to have a job. And she told me not to tell my family.

Sandie [00:03:51] What kind of job did she offer you?

Maria [00:03:54] She offered me a job cleaning and answering phones for this elderly couple, which was never at home that they going to be traveling. So, she told me that I was just going to be answering the phones and cleaning the house. Yes, I got very happy. And when she told me not to tell my family, I also was angry with her because I wanted to surprise my family with a job.

Sandie [00:04:18] So, you wanted to surprise your family with your success.

Maria [00:04:22] Correct.

Sandie [00:04:25] And how did it feel? Was that the very first job offer you’d ever had?

Maria [00:04:32] Yes. That was the first offer that I had. We have to keep in mind that I was fifteen. I was supposed to be in school at that age, but I was here from Mexico. I was just new and here and I didn’t go to school yet. My family hadn’t been taught about school or anything like that, because according to them, I just go...

Learn about the annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report that is issued by the U.S. State Department. Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the importance of the report and some of its key components that will help you study the issues of human trafficking.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Transcript

Dave [00:00:01] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number five recorded in June 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:29] And my name is Sandra Morgan.

Dave [00:00:31] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Glad to be back with you again, Sandie.

Sandie [00:00:41] Hi, Dave. It’s good to be here. I am so excited to talk about the Trafficking in Persons report. This is a report that the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons produces annually since the first Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed in 2000. And it is amazing. It has grown so that it covers 175 countries and helps us find and raise global awareness so that we spur countries to take effective action to counter trafficking, to counter modern-day slavery.

Dave [00:01:17] So, today’s topic is really going to look at exploring this report, which did it just come out or just about to come out?

Sandie [00:01:23] It’s due out June 2011. So, any day now.

Dave [00:01:27] OK, great. So, we’ll learn a little bit more about what this report is about and specifically how this report adds value to the global fight against human trafficking. And if this report or anything else we talk about today is something you’d like to know more about, be sure to send us some feedback or even send us an audio voicemail. And we’d be happy to include your comments on an upcoming show and answer your questions. The best way to do that, there’s actually two ways to do that. One is to call us, and you can reach us at the Global Center for Women and Justice at Vanguard University. And that number is 714-556-3610 and Sandie’s office is the extension 2242. The other great way to reach us is via email. And Sandie, that address?

Sandie [00:02:19] [email protected]

Dave [00:02:28] And if you’re looking for the Web site to Sandie’s office at Vanguard, that’s actually very easy to get to as well. It’s just GCWJ.Vanguard.edu and you can find a number of resources and information about human trafficking and some of the other advocacy that the center is working on as well. And I should mention before we get started, Sandie, we did get some feedback already from some of the past episodes. And in particular, we received a comment from Bruce in Pennsylvania. So, if you’re listening, we are actually working on your answer. So, we will be answering that on an upcoming show. Sandie’s doing some research right now. So, thanks again for everyone who’s already reached out to us about the podcast. We’re excited to be getting feedback and hearing from you. Also, we look forward to continuing the conversation as the weeks and months go on and we continue to explore future episodes. And by the way, we should mention if you have suggestions for things, you’d like us to cover. We’re also open to that, too.

Sandie [00:03:27] Exactly. We want to be a good resource so that you can have the opportunity to study the issues and know what to say and know what to do.

Dave [00:03:37] Yeah. Which brings us to our topic today, which is looking at the Trafficking in Persons report that is put out by the State Department. And you had mentioned a little bit about the report already, Sandie. Could you, for those of us who aren’t familiar, and I’m aware that there is a report and I’ve seen it before, but that’s about the extent of my knowledge of this and even how the State Department is involved in really ending human trafficking? And, of course, we’re talking about the U.S. State Department. So, I wondered if you could even before we talk about the report in detail, for those of us who may not be very familiar, what type of structure and resources does the U.S. State Department have in place at a high level to really combat trafficking?

Sandie

Learn about how the physiology of children plays a major role in human trafficking. Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss how the unique characteristics of children make them prime targets for traffickers. How the brain develops in children, decision making abilities, and effects of trauma all impact children and increase their vulnerability to being trafficked.

Key Points

Resources

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You’re listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number 4, recorded in May 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:29] And my name is Sandra Morgan.

Dave [00:00:31] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking, which amazingly ended at the exact same time the music did. Somehow the timing all worked out, Sandie.

Sandie [00:00:44] Great. Hey, let’s talk about human trafficking.

Dave [00:00:48] Alright, sounds good. So, with that, we are going to talk some more today, Sandie2, about kids and how kids are unfortunately very involved in the human trafficking issue. And last time we talked about just scratching the surface on how kids are involved in some of the issues surrounding how we think about kids who are involved with trafficking, some of the statistics, and some of the language that we use. And I know today you’d like us to jump in a little bit more to some of the, and I’m going to try and say this word right, physiology behind how this happens.

Sandie [00:01:28] OK. Yeah. Last week we had a chance to talk about the fact that we don’t have to prove force, fraud, or coercion when it’s a minor under the age of 18. And we defined the victimization of a child being sold for commercial sex acts as commercial sexual exploitation of children. We aren’t talking about kids who voluntarily become “prostitutes”. We want to move away from that kind of terminology. But helping us understand how a child thinks and their brain development is a critical part of seeing them as victims, not as perpetrators, because they may come across as very willing participants in the illicit sale of commercial sex. And so, some people would think that they need to be prosecuted as perpetrators, and not rescued as victims. So, understanding how they think is part of the process. So, let’s talk about that. I think one of the things to begin with is to understand that human beings are hard-wired to form relationships with caregivers. So, what did we talk about the risk factors with kids last week?

Dave [00:02:52] Well, one of the things you talked about was how kids become very vulnerable when they’re homeless. And there are economic factors, much like we talked about in the second episode too, about the business aspects, unfortunately, of trafficking. So, that’s one key area that I remember.

Sandie [00:03:08] So, if they’re homeless and they’re running away possibly from some sort of abuse in the place where they were supposed to be safe, then there’s a big void in the role that is supposed to be part of their lives as a child, of having a caregiver, a parent, a father, a mother, an aunt, a grandmother, someone who is out there to take care of them. And this is something they are looking for. That’s what we do, we want to have that kind of relationship. And according to child psychologists, we are hardwired to form relationships with caregivers. Now, that seems like, well, yeah, everybody knows that. But that’s a really important part of why kids are so vulnerable to being recruited by the perpetrators, the pimps, the traffickers.

Dave [00:03:56] Because they can play that role in their brain as far as what they think they need.

Sandie [00:04:05] Exactly. So, let’s go back to the story we talked about last week.

Dave [00:04:09] OK.

Sandie [00:04:10] This is not a real name. We’re just going to call her Anna. 14-year-old American kid who ended up in a group home because of being molested in her own home by her mother’s boyfriend. So, she doesn’t like the grou...

Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the various ways children can be trafficked.  They go over the basic terms of what human trafficking is as well as what it looks like when youth are being exploited and how we can better protect youth.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Transcript

Dave [00:00:00] You are listening to the ending human trafficking podcast. This is episode number three, recorded in May 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandie [00:00:29] And I’m Sandie Morgan.

Dave [00:00:30] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking.

Sandie [00:00:38] Today, we’re going to look at a review of the basics of what is human trafficking so that we can identify it in our local communities and specifically look at what it looks like when it involves youth who are being sexually exploited.

Dave [00:00:54] And this is a really difficult issue, unfortunately, Sandie, as many of the topics are that we are talking about in this podcast, because, when we talk about children it’s such a complicated issue and it’s such a heartbreaking issue. And yet it is so much a huge part of this issue that it’s something that we really do need to talk about. And you can’t really understand human trafficking if you don’t understand the way that kids play into this.

Sandie [00:01:25] Well, in our Department of Justice statistics, our State Department Global Trafficking in Persons statistics, they all show that more than 50 percent of victims globally are children. So, it’s to be expected that we’re going to encounter children who are victims of trafficking in our own country because we are working on this here and finding victims. But I think the most shocking part is to find out that those kids that are being exploited sexually are kids who were born here. They could be from your neighborhood. They could be from my neighborhood. And it’s so important for us to be able to identify at-risk kids so we can do prevention and identify kids who are right now in some kind of exploitative circumstance so that we can intervene and get them out.

Dave [00:02:16] And before we go much further, we should thank those of you who are out there who have listened to the first couple of episodes of the Ending Human Trafficking podcast and for the wonderful feedback you’ve all given us thus far. We’re glad to have been able to get this podcast started and off the ground. And we’d love to hear from you as well if we haven’t heard from you already, and you’d love to give us some feedback or if you have a comment or suggestion about the show or if you have a question for a future podcast that you’d like either me or Sandie to address, we’d be happy to. There’s a couple of ways to reach us. One way is to contact us by email, and that’s at the Global Center for Women and Justice E-mail address at Vanguard University.

Sandie [00:02:57] That’s [email protected]

Dave [00:03:05] And the other way to contact us is through our phone number, which is 714-556-3610 extension 2242. That’s the number for the Global Center for Women and Justice. I was making fun of how you were saying “w” by the way earlier. Where was that w accent from?

Sandie [00:03:26] I don’t know. I’ve lived all over. Maybe I picked it up in Greece.

Dave [00:03:31] Could be. So, if you’d like to reach us with a comment or question, that’s how to do it. And also, you can reach us on Facebook as well and just search for the Global Center for Women and Justice and you will find us. And before jumping in and getting started and talking specifically about children and trafficking, ...

Dr. Sandie Morgan and Dave Stachowiak discuss the unfortunate realities of human trafficking being big business. Learn about some of the business and economic issues that drive human trafficking, such as the law of supply and demand and how your actions directly impact this issue.

Key Points

Resources

[Note from the Ending Human Trafficking podcast team: This episode was recorded in 2011 so the contact information provided is no longer accurate. Please refer endinghumantrafficking.org/contact for the correct contact information to get in touch with the EHT podcast.]

Dave [00:00:00] You are listening to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. This is episode number two recorded in April 2011. Welcome to the Ending Human Trafficking podcast. My name is Dave Stachowiak.

Sandra [00:00:30] My name is Sandra Morgan.

Dave [00:00:32] And this is the show where we empower you to study the issues, be a voice, and make a difference in ending human trafficking. Sandie, so glad to be back with you again for our second episode.

Sandra [00:00:45] Well, and I’m really excited about the opportunity for the Global Center for Women and Justice to offer a podcast like this.

Dave [00:00:52] Me too. And we are going to be talking today about the how human trafficking is unfortunately a really big business. And that’s one of the tremendous realities about human trafficking and one of the reasons this is such a big issue.

Sandra [00:01:10] And last time we talked about what human trafficking is from a legal context, and there is a global, federal, and state laws and basically the elements of human trafficking are force, fraud and coercion. So it’s modern-day slavery, but we don’t see it the way that we sometimes think about the images of people in handcuffs or chained together or tied up to a post. But rather with force, fraud and coercion we see people who are offered a job that doesn’t really exist or they’re offered some kind of reward, financial or merchandise, and then that’s a promise that when they actually arrive, they’re put into some sort of labor or commercial sexual exploitation. And then they’re kept in that through coercion, through the use of threats against themselves or against members of their families. And sometimes they’re the force does come when they’re brutalized through gang rapes and beatings and torture. And that mental prison then goes with them 24 hours a day and they’re afraid to speak up. They’re afraid to try to run away because of what will happen if they get caught or what will happen to members of their family.

Dave [00:02:33] And unfortunately, this really does have a lot of business aspects to it, and I wish we didn’t have to have a business conversation about this. But the reality is is that the business aspects are a lot of the thing that really do drive human trafficking. And so I’m glad you’re here and you’re a wealth of information about how we can look at human trafficking through the lens of business, not to oversimplify it, but to give us a lens of really what is driving it. And so you probably are going to have questions about this as well as you listen to this podcast and we really encourage you to reach out to us with your questions and your comments. And so you can reach us if you have a question or comment for the show give us a call. We’re at 714-556-3610. That’s the main number for Vanguard University, where the Global Center for Women in Justice is housed. And you want to dial extension 2242. So again, that’s 714-556-3610 extension 2242 and Sandie folks can reach you by email as well to. The email address for the center.

Sandra [00:03:39] [email protected]. GCWJ, Global Center for Women and Justice. You can also just go on our website GCWJ.vanguard.edu.

Dave [00:03:53] And before we talk more about the business of human trafficking, you have a quick piece of audio to share with us this morning.

Sandra [00:04:01] Our Live2Free did a video piece called “The Cost of Demand” and here’s just the intro so that we get an idea of how big the business aspect of this is to driving modern-day slavery. Listen.

Live2free Audio [00:04:16] We live in a modern world. Everything is possible. We fly to the moon. We decode the human gene. We invent new and better technologies to create, produce and continuously improve the quality of our lives. The world today is a global market where products, labor and money flow in an ever expanding s...