POLICY MEMO
TO:Governor Andrew Cuomo
FROM:Women’s Philanthropy & Government Relations, UJA-Federation of New York
RE: Human Trafficking in New York State
Date:October 6th, 2017
______
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
When it comes to the issue of human trafficking, Americans in particular, maintain a “not in our backyard” attitude. What many, including us New Yorkers, do not realize is that human trafficking is a worldwide crisis and it’s happening right here, right under our noses. From New York City to upstate counties, New York has become the center of an international struggle, a strugglethatabsolutely needs to be addressed and handled by our state government.[1] We can no longer ignore the issue at hand. According to the Center for Global Impact, there are four main causes of human trafficking. Human trafficking occurs in large part due to poverty, political conditions, war and cultural practices.[2] Society has even glamorized the act of human trafficking. Rappers like Jay-Z and 50 Cent oftenmake references to “pimping” in their music and frequently sexualize females in their visual videos.How is this acceptable that these rappers, who serve as the role models for our youth, can sensationalize these crimes?Governor Cuomo, I encourage you to take a stand against what the International Labor Organization estimates is an $150 billion industry which is endangering the lives of thousands of our inhabitants.[3]
PROBLEM: Human Trafficking in New York State
The CIA estimates that human trafficking is the third largest crime industry in the world behind drug and gun smuggling.[4] New York State,among other places, breaks human trafficking down into two categories: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. By New York State definition, sex trafficking is the, “profiting from prostitution by providing drugs, using false or misleading statements, withholding or destroying government documents, debt servicing, force, a plan or pattern of coercive conduct, or other acts.” This definition is actually quite unique to New York.Under the federal law, minors are automatically considered victims regardless if force or coercion is present. This is not the case in our state. Labor trafficking, similar to sex trafficking is defined as the, “compelling or inducing another to engage in labor, or recruiting, enticing, harboring or transporting another by providing drugs, withholding or destroying government documents, debt servicing, force, or a plan or pattern of coercive conduct.[5] Labor trafficking is seen as today’s modern day slavery.
Between 2000 and 2011, there were over 11,268 trafficking victims who received social and legal services just in New York City alone. The results of a 2007 study conducted by the Office of Child and Family Services actually found that 2,253 children are trafficked annually in NYC and399 children are trafficked annually in upstate areas.[6] This year, thus far, over 2,000 sex trafficking cases have already been reported within the United States.[7] The top five states where caseshave been noted are California, Texas, Florida, Ohio and here in New York.As for labor trafficking, this year there has been close to 500 cases disclosed in the United States.[8]California, Texas, Florida, George and New York are the leading states in which these cases have been reported.[9] As we can clearly see, New York is a paramount state in which human trafficking is taking place.New York City itself is currently serving as (and no pun intended) the big apple for human trafficking crimes because of its international borders, ports, mass influxes of immigrants and large amounts of tourists. Long Island has also become a central hub due to its proximity to the city.[10]
Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to arrest traffickers in New York. As of now, law enforcement officials do not have the authority to do so. Despite Congress passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, local officials have no authority to make these arrests. The act was completely underfunded and thus could not provide the fiscal support needed. The Anti-Human Trafficking Act of 2006 cracked down slightly more on trafficking crimes, yet the industry continues to grow at an increasingly frightening rate. Sometimes traffickers do not even see court time not to mention prison time.[11] It has become imperative the New Yorkers offer a solution to these crimes.
What does a victim of trafficking look like? Any citizen of any country or state can fall into the hands of human trafficking. He or she could hold a college degree or be only of 13 years of age. One could be of any race, ethnicity, religion, gender, economic class, etc. But there are indeed some statistics available to us. 80% of victims are women, which is why trafficking is often mistaken for just a women’s issue. 50% are children with the average age of victims being 13 years old. Many of these children are homeless, have run away from home, are in the foster care system, may battle with substance, physical and sex abuse, have disabilities, are part of the LGBT community or are refugees and immigrants.[12] Approximately 100,000-300,000 children are currently involved with human trafficking in the United States. Sadly, 68% of people who are trafficked will experiencePost Traumatic Stress Disorder in the course of their lives.[13] While the aforementioned statistics clearly reflect the information available to us, we must remember that thousands of trafficking goes unreported every year and thus most of the illegal happenings still remain a mystery to the general public and lawmakers alike.
In September of 2015, the New York Times published an article titled, “Photographing Human Trafficking in New York.” The beautifully written and photographed article follows the story of photographer, XyzaBacani, who captures what the average public would see as ordinary people doing ordinary jobs; maids, janitors, nannies, etc. However, what Bacani unearths are indentured servants, true victims of human trafficking. Many of the victims are non-Americans who are lured to this country for jobs but instead meet a horrible fate. They are trapped, held against their will, and even beaten and forced to work for the same criminals who brought them to this country. They are not exposed to the language, isolated from society and therefore they cannot physically report their abominable situation or fear doing so. Ms. Bacani was absolutely shocked to discover that trafficking was happening in a first world country.[14]
Like Ms. Bacani, many people hold certain myths about trafficking. According to New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services, there are five common misconceptions regarding human trafficking. The first is that in order for someone to be trafficked, he or she has to be moved over a state or international border. This is not true. No movement has to take place for someone to be trafficked. The second myth is that victims are often smuggled. This can indeed happen, but is not always the case. Many victims often are given incentives to travel to this country and arrive in a completely legal fashion. Many also believe that U.S. citizens cannot be victims. But now we know that this is incorrect. I can’t stress enough that any citizen of any country can become a victim of human trafficking. Another misconception is that trafficking victims must be kidnapped or restrained. This is far from the truth. In fact, many have what we call “physical” freedom, but mentally they cannot break free. Often, especially those victims of sex trafficking, are emotionally bound to their captors and thus do not care to seek help. They feel comfortable and even love their traffickers. Lastly, some reason that if a victim previously consented to being abused and if he or she was once paid but are paid no longer, then one cannot really be considered a victim. We must remember that a victim is a victim no matter the timing of the circumstances.[15]
POLICY OPTIONS
The Importance of Education
Schools
One of the biggest issues facing human trafficking today is this lack of awareness surrounding the issues. Sadly, many people do not know that human trafficking is even an issue in New York. Thus, the first step that must be taken in the fight against human trafficking is simple; we need to do a better job in the education realm. Because a good amount of victims are children, let’s start by openly speaking about it in schools and teaching our educators how to identify young victims of trafficking. The U.S Department of Education has already released this guide for teachers, staff and administrators to help identify victims and how to go about getting help.[16] In addition, the DOE has outlined policies, protocols and partnerships with non-profits to address these issues andhow to further prevent the exploitation of our youth.[17] Now, schools need to actually utilize these guidelines. New York State public school officials should be required to be proficient on these rules and they should know the correct procedures when dealing with trafficked children.
Advertising
In 2014, shortly before New York City hosted the Superbowl at Metlife Stadium, Clear Channel and the Polaris Project partnered to run a two-week anti-human trafficking campaign. The companies strategically placed 26 digital billboards throughout the area and ultimately made 11 million impressions.[18] Why did the two companies run the campaign during this specific time? The Superbowl happens to be the “single largest human trafficking incident in the U.S.”[19] While I laud Clear Channel and Polaris’s efforts during the Superbowl, it shouldn’t have taken a large sporting event to bring human trafficking awareness to one of the capitals of the human trafficking industry. There absolutely must be on going advertising, such as subway placements (everything else is advertised on the 6 train, why not this?), social media campaigns, television ads, billboards, public service announcements, etc. Simply, the general public is in the dark when it comes to being informed on these issues. We have to put human trafficking on people’s agenda. Thus, it is up to our state government in conjunction with human rights organizations to bring awareness to the public through paid advertising and strategic ad placement.
Empowering Survivors
Finally, we need to empower the survivors of human trafficking. The victims must be given opportunities to speak out and to really share their stories. In 2014 in North Carolina, the Governor’s Office along with several other organizations, hosted a day of panel discussions with survivors of trafficking. Each victim had the opportunity to share their own struggles along with how they were able to overcome their obstacles.[20] Recently Nadia Murad, a client of Amal Clooney and a survivor of human trafficking crimes by the Islamic State, was appointed as theGoodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Traffickingto the UN.[21] This is a huge step for victims of trafficking. Here we have a victim in a true position of power; an appointment that will ultimately help put human trafficking on the public agenda. If we can empower survivors on an international level, it is definitely possible on a state level. We need to put it in the hands of the victims to help shape the future of our response to human trafficking crimes.
Will This Work?
It is clear that education is needed in order to drive awareness to the issue at hand. However, by advocating for this first proposal, it is assumed that a lack of education is directly correlated to trafficking crimes. This causal relationship can be challenged of course. As we know cultural norms and economic incentives also drive human trafficking and so we can’t assume that a lack of education is exacerbating the problem. There are also many aspects of this solution that are not pragmatic and may not even work at all. For one, we can argue that this solution, specifically the advertising option, is quite costl. In fact, I for see it being a problem when it comes to funding. Unless nonprofit organizations partner with the government to run these campaigns, I am not certain that these campaigns will run. On top of that, it has to be assured that these nonprofits have the funds and are willing to value an advertising campaign over some of the other causes that they allocate money to. This proposal also relies on the fact that victims want to teach and want to actually educate their peers. We have to understand that many victims may not want to share their stories for various reasons. They could be scared of being judged, they may fear bringing back emotions from the past, or they may even believe that their traffickers will easily find them if they are exposed to the general public.
Our New York State Law
In 2007, New York State passed the New York State Human Trafficking Act, which basically extended human trafficking crimes to sex and labor trafficking. However, there were major gaps in the law. For one, labor trafficking wasn’t taken as seriously as sex trafficking. In addition, the new law did not call for trafficker’s to forfeit any assets, victims were still deemed guilty if they were involuntarily involved in a trafficking scheme, and there was no way for victims to contact the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance without going through the law enforcement process first.[22] In 2015, The Trafficking Victim’s Projection and Justice Act, was signed by you Governor, and sought to fill these loopholes.[23] The TVPJA ultimately enhances victim protection, recognizes that children bought for sex is child abuse, defends trafficked people from criminal persecution and strengthens cases against traffickers.[24] However, some argue that TVPJA has it’s own loopholes. According to Kate D’Amado, a National Policy Advocate at the Sex Worker’s Project, the bill places a large emphasis on criminalization and not enough on the needs of the victims. D’Amado argues that there are now more incentives to arrest sex traffickers and hence the law will not provide a deeper solution to the problem. The new bill does not protect third parties who may shelter victims of trafficking.In addition, victims along can still face multiple charges for the same action. Lastly, the law doesn’t protect and differentiate minors who are involuntary involved with the sex trade.[25] NewYork State needs to address these loopholes and pass regulation that punishes the perpetrators, while giving the victims the humility and the services that they need.People who provide shelter to victims should not be punished for their good intentions. It’s important that we keep working to revise the TJVPA and keep the law fit to changing societal needs. Lastly, and what seems to be the most obvious, we must actually enforce the old laws and current laws. Hence, we will be able to better provide protection for victims of human trafficking.
Evaluation: Can We Do Better?
It’s certainly not easy to change a law. It took a long eight years for lawmakers to revise the New York State Human Trafficking Act and to pass the TJVPA. Because the law was just updated in 2015, I not sure how high of a priority passing brand new legislation is for lawmakers. And of course, when we pass new laws, there are unforeseen new issues that we can create. For example, the TJVPA finds those guilty if their vehicles are involved with human trafficking, even if they do not know about it; something that wasn’t an issue before the law was passed. By updating the TJVPA, lawmakers could essentially make things worse for others in some ways. We obviously do not want this to happen, but this is inevitable. Passing new legislation is also quite expensive and time consuming. Yet, enforcing such laws provides an even larger challenge. It’s difficult enough to enforce any law for an entire state population, but because human trafficking is extremely hard to detect, cases usually fly under law enforcement’s radar. Lastly, the interpretation of a law comes into importance here. Human trafficking laws have proved to hold complex language that often incriminates the victims. By proposing a new law, we still risk doing this in some way (even though the proposal attempts to clear these loopholes). Laws are constantly misinterpreted and this could pose yet another issue in the future. Between this threat and the complexity of the proposal, there are definitely issues when attempting to pass and enforce new and current legislation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Trafficking is often a muted subject. We don’t like to talk about it. It makes us uncomfortable and yes, we are in denial that it is happening in a first world country. In August of just this year, six men were charged in a Manhattan Federal Court for trafficking minors with the intent of using them as sex workers.[26] This of course didn’t make the headlines because NBC and all of the other networks were airing the Olympic games from Rio de Janeiro. And while we know there are a fair amount of cases reported, we will never know the exact number of how many people are truly trafficked on an annual basis. We must stay committed to ending these atrocities once and for all. Through spreading awareness and revising and enforcing the current laws, I truly believe we can help diminish human trafficking crimes in the great state of New York.