Hope teen shares personally about human trafficking

  • Taryn Davidson
  • Aug 23, 2010

What places come to mind when you think of human trafficking? Ransacked villages in Africa? Sweatshops in China? City streets in Phoenix? Yeah, right. Who associates human trafficking with Phoenix?

That’s exactly what makes it so dangerous. We live in a society that watches movies like Taken and thinks, “Well, that’s Europe. It happens all the time there. What can I do about it?” Or, worse yet, “Why should I care?” The truth is, that could easily have happened in Arizona, and it would never have made the news, not because people do not care, but because no one would ever know. The government suggests that 293,000 American children risk being trafficked, and the crime itself is difficult to follow. There is no way of knowing how many people are currently being trafficked into, out of, and within the United States.

So, why aren’t more people fighting against this all too common form of slavery? It may have a fancy name, but that is what human trafficking is: slavery. The claim of ignorance is inapplicable now. Why isn’t the church more involved? As followers of Christ, we should be trying to set the captive free.

It is easy to scoff at the criminals, but what about helping the victims? And what about the state? The police catch prostitutes on a regular basis, but they simply jail them and release them. How many of those prostitutes are doing so of their own free will? Many are victims of human trafficking and are too afraid to tell the authorities. Putting them back on the street is putting them back in the power of their manipulators. It may be difficult to find and prosecute the pimps who control them, but it is not impossible.

Then there are us, the people. We can fight one of human traffickers’ greatest weapons: ignorance. We can tell our families and our friends, and we can tell those at risk. It may not be an easy subject, but the average age of a human trafficking victim is thirteen. Thirteen. You may think that your pre-teen is too young to deal with this, but traffickers don’t.

You can also help kill the source. Bad home lives and low self-esteem are two of the factors that make a young woman vulnerable; combat these and you combat the entire trafficking industry. If you are more inclined to monetary donations, then research organizations such as Streetlight, which rehabilitates victims after they have been arrested rather than putting them back on the streets and into their forced labour.

All it takes to fight human trafficking is awareness and resolve. If you want more information on trafficking in Arizona, look up ALERT or Streetlight. We’ve ignored this too long, but if we acknowledge the problem and coordinate our efforts we can do something. You know now. What’s your next step?

— Taryn Davidson

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