Category — Sex Trafficking

Recent articles regarding the “Sugar Baby” trend, where debt-burdened young people seek romantic relationships with older individuals for financial compensation, have portrayed these arrangements as a new and modern phenomenon.  These journalists have a point: college students entering into these relationships are a byproduct of the onerous cost of education in 21st Century America.  In a broader sense, however, the Sugar Baby craze is merely the newest installment of an age-old quest to seek salvation from economic deprivation. [Read more →]

Vulnerability to any crime is subject to a variety of socioeconomic, cultural, and independent factors that place some individuals at higher risk of entering dangerous situations than others. Although financial insecurity is a huge vulnerability for many college students and recent grads, it is not necessarily the only factor in a persons decision to be come a sugar baby. [Read more →]

On November 15, Polaris Project hosted the first ever National State Legislators Conference Call on Human Trafficking. More than 40 legislators from 26 states joined a conference call and webinar put together by Polaris Project to collaborate, share ideas, and advocate for anti-trafficking legislation. Each state has taken its own approach to combatting human trafficking and the purpose of the call was to give legislators an opportunity to learn more from each other on what has worked and the challenges others have confronted in successfully carrying anti-trafficking legislation.

Executive Director and CEO Bradley Myles provided an introductory statement on the need for strong local action against trafficking. Then, legislators that worked closely with Polaris Project offered their insight and guidance to veteran and freshmen legislators on how to pass anti-trafficking legislation. [Read more →]

Survival sex is a term commonly understood within the context of the runaway, homeless, youth (RHY) community whereby youth turn to prostitution as a means of survival – exchanging sexual services for basic necessities such as food and shelter. Today, educational debt is putting some young adults in the same dire situation. [Read more →]

The phenomenon of “sugar babies,” – where debt-burdened young people seek romantic relationships with older individuals for financial compensation — have been recently in the news. A recent Huffington Post article told the story of a young college student seeking a way out of her college debts and we couldn’t help but draw the connections between these highly exploitative relationships and the potential vulnerabilities linked to situations of human trafficking. [Read more →]

Part I of this two-part blog series discussed three websites that can help you be a socially responsible consumer. Here are three more sites that sell goods made by survivors of human trafficking or that use fashion as a way to educate the public about human trafficking. [Read more →]

In comparison to the Montana Meth Project ad campaign discussed here yesterday, anti-trafficking groups have tried similar ad campaigns before to raise public awareness, but never anything so graphic or compelling as the Montana Meth Project’s campaign, perhaps until now (see more below under Recent Developments). Past efforts have been sporadic and limited in reach. For example, the Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking initiated a print ad campaign focusing on child sex trafficking with images of strip clubs and very young girls in neon lights. Check it out here. Another coalition worked in Seattle to initiate a bus ad campaign, focusing on ending demand for commercial sex and thus thwarting sex trafficking. [Read more →]

The Montana Meth Project is a philanthropic organization working to prevent meth use in Montana by focusing on risks and consequences of methamphetamine. During its six years of operations, it has seen an inspiring decrease in meth use statewide. Public awareness has been catalyzed by the Meth Project’s intense advertising campaign, including short TV spots, radio announcements, internet presence, and print ads.

The print ads took the cause to the streets with a graphic advertising campaign appearing on billboards and in printed high school newspapers across the state of Montana. Many of these ads illustrate the drastic, dangerous, heart-wrenching effects of meth on its users and their families. Some ads particularly highlight the severe connection between drug use and various types of exploitation. The pictures allude to certain scenarios with images and key words, and many of these depict situations related to human trafficking. [Read more →]

Since 1945, the United States has maintained a significant military presence in the Republic of Korea (also known as South Korea). Currently, about 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed on military bases throughout the country. Beginning in the 1950s, U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) identified the need to provide entertainment in order to maintain high levels of morale among U.S. troops stationed there. The USFK and South Korea cooperated to establish centers of “rest and relaxation” for American troops called kijichon near American military bases. What began as a well-meaning effort to keep homesick American troops amused, and Korean citizens employed, resulted in an exploitative network that has spanned international borders and four decades. [Read more →]

This year’s TIP Report includes country narratives on 184 countries, featuring seven new profiles on Aruba, Curacao, Marshall Islands, St. Lucia, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, and Tonga. One of the most notable components of the TIP Report is the tier placements, and of course everyone wants to know how their country measured up this year. The 2011 TIP Report boasts upgrades for 23 countries and demotions for 22 countries, a quasi-equilibrium in shifts. But what does this re-shuffling mean? [Read more →]