Human Trafficking Awareness
in Illinois
Last
Thursday, May 15, 2014, the Edgewater Library Community Room featured a
presentation about Human Trafficking Awareness by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in cooperation with 48th Ward Alderman Harry Osterman,
Illinois Senator Heather Steans (7th District), State Representative
Kelly M. Cassidy (14th District), U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
(9th District) and Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken
up more efforts to intercept human trafficking operations in the state of
Illinois, nationwide, and around the world to set free victims of human trafficking
who are enslaved as senior citizens, mental health patients, women, youth,
children, disabled people, in the LGBT group, as well as laborers in
agriculture and domestic service, nannies or maids, food service employees, tourist
or hospitality workers, janitors, migrant farmers, fishery workers, or as
beggars. Victims of Human Trafficking
may also be immigrants, aliens or non-immigrants in the United States of
America.
The Federal
Bureau of Investigation's efforts are focusing on human trafficking awareness to
combat and deter the exploitation of individuals who work in labor industries targeted
by human traffickers and who are often forced into slave labor or sexual exploitation
and prostitution.
According to
the FBI profile, You May Be A Victim of Human Trafficking if:
-
You
are not being paid for your work, or your wages are held by a boss or
supervisor.
-
Your
working conditions make you feel unsafe.
-
You
are not free to come and go as you please.
-
You
feel threatened or members of your family have been threatened.
-
Your
personal belongings and Identification Cards and Documents have been taken from
you.
-
You
are subjected to physical violence or emotional abuse at work or at home where
you live.
-
You
have had false Identification cards or documents given to you.
-
Your
communication with family and friends is restricted or denied by others
deliberately.
-
You
are denied rest and are forced to work while you are sick or while you have
become sick.
Human
Trafficking is not just forced sexual exploitation or prostitution. Victims of sex trafficking can be senior
citizens, disabled women or men, LGBT people, teenagers, boys or girls.
Victims of
Human Trafficking fall for a variety of scenarios and common patterns of
behavior for luring humans into situations of sex trafficking which include:
-
The
promise of a good job
-
A
false marriage proposal
-
Being
sold into the sex trade by parents or family members
-
Being
kidnapped by traffickers
Common abuse
methods and torture used by sex traffickers are confinement, starvation,
physical abuse and injury by beatings, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to
the victims and the victim’s families, induced drug use and blackmail with the
threat of shaming their victims by revealing their activities to their family
and friends, sedition and persecution, harassment, heinous hate crimes,
domestic violence, etc.
The Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Protection Act (TVPA) is a federal statute passed into law in 2000 by
the U.S. Congress. It offers protections for persons in the country illegally
who may be victims of human trafficking.
The Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Protection Act had been subsequently renewed in 2003, 2006, 2008 and
most recently in 2013 as an amendment to the Violence Against Women Act.[1]
There are two stipulations an applicant has to meet in order to receive the
benefits of the T-Visa. First, a trafficked victim must prove/admit to being
trafficked and second must submit to prosecution of his or her trafficker.
A problem arises from the second
portion of requirements of an applicant. Many trafficked persons are extremely
fearful of retaliation upon the self or the family and thus serves as a major
deterrent to individuals even considering application.
The TVPA allowed for the
establishment of the Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat
Trafficking in Persons, which coordinates with foreign governments to protect
trafficking victims, prevent trafficking, and prosecute traffickers.[2]
If you have been a Victim of Human
Traffic and Sex Exploitation or you may have information about a potential
trafficking situation, please contact the FBI Chicago Field Offfice at
312-421-6700.
