Capitol Rotunda, Harrisburg

October 18, 2011 at 3:00 p.m.

30 victims, held in debt bondage. Sexual and physical violence used to force them to work long hours at very little or no pay. You may think that you would never come across this type of crime, but in Pennsylvania, these 30 labor trafficking victims were working in plain sight at stores like Walmart, Kmart, Safeway, and Target. These stores hired contractors to clean, and were unaware of the horrific conditions that their cleaners were working under. This is just one of many human trafficking situations that have emerged out of Pennsylvania in recent years, and a reason why PA Senator Daylin Leach yesterday hosted a press conference in the Harrisburg Capitol Rotunda calling for legislation that requires the posting of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) hotline number.

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Charmed by Hollywood images of Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman,” a misconception of the life of young girls and women trapped in prostitution has spread through American consciousness. It is important to reveal to people what really happens to many of the girls and women. However, the enormity of the task means that just one organization cannot do this alone. This is why we often collaborate with other organizations, on international, national, and local levels, to ensure that we can make the biggest possible impact with the limited resources we have available. [Read more →]

Part I of this blog discussed two of the factors that played a significant role in the passing of anti-human trafficking legislation in the Commonwealth of Virginia: the Change makers and a bi-partisan coalition. In this entry, I will go on to discuss two equally important reasons for these monumental changes.

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After her mother called 911, a 19-year-old girl was rescued from a hotel room where she had been held captive by four men, and forced to sell her body for sex to men who’d seen an advertisement on backpage.com. This happened in Maryland, just last month. In this case, the trafficking ring was uncovered, and the perpetrators arrested. But in many cases, the story unfolds in a different way. The girl may be too afraid to ask for help and in many cases law enforcement may not recognize it as a trafficking situation. The girl may be charged with prostitution, and simply put right back into the traffickers hands. This is the reason that Maryland law needs to change. [Read more →]

Winning the Battle, Not the War…Yet
As more states have enacted state-level laws against human trafficking, advocates have celebrated these landmark victories. States now have additional tools to target criminals who exploit others by compelling them into commercial sex, labor, or services. [Read more →]

This week, we took a road trip to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for a lobby day to encourage activists to talk to their legislators about important pending legislation. A coalition of anti-trafficking groups based in Pennsylvania and nationally organized the lobby day and it was a great success!  There were with more than 80 activists who met  with their state representatives and state senators. The day culminated with a press conference held in the Rotunda of the Pennsylvania State Capitol, where several legislators and activists, including Polaris’ Senior Policy Specialist and Communications Advisor Julie Janovsky, spoke passionately about the issue. [Read more →]

Bradley Myles with activists and Bush administration officials at the TVPRA 2008 bill signing

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) was signed on October 28, 2000, making last Thursday its 10-year anniversary.  At the time, this law truly was ground-breaking legislation because it was the first comprehensive federal law that addressed human trafficking in the modern era. One of its most important contributions was the formulation of a victim-centered paradigm for addressing the crime and a three-pronged approach that included: [Read more →]