Seminars focus on human trafficking
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Law-enforcement and social-service agencies will receive training this week on how to spot human trafficking here — whether in prostitution or some form of forced labor — and how to intervene.
A three-day series of seminars for professionals starts today. These are closed sessions, but a public briefing on human trafficking is set for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow in Room 423 of the State Capitol.
The training is sponsored by the Hawai'i Anti-Trafficking Task Force, formed a year ago after a conference sponsored by the Globalization Research Center of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
The issue of modern slavery, and the movement of people against their will across international boundaries, is a hot one, although nobody knows how many people may be victims, said Jennifer Stanger, the trainer who will be leading the sessions.
Stanger works for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, a Los Angeles-based organization whose projects include "Freedom Network" training series like this one.
She compared the mission to the decades-ago work by similar nonprofits to raise awareness about domestic violence.
In those days, she said, law-enforcement and social-service workers were unlikely to recognize the signs of domestic violence in the course of doing their jobs; now, they need to be trained to spot the warning signs that a person might have fallen into a kind of bondage.
"Victims don't self-identify," Stanger said. "They're being psychologically and physically coerced by traffickers. Family members are being threatened back in countries of origin — that's a big piece of tape over their mouths right there."
Red flags should go up whenever workers are found who aren't controlling their own identity papers, who are unpaid or paid much less than they were promised, or who feel unable to leave their place of employment, Stanger said.
"There is no formula for spotting trafficking," she said. "The key is this: Is their will being overborne by someone else, causing them to do something they don't want to do?
"There may be threats against family members at home, threats of using the legal process against them. If you have evidence of coercion and labor going on, then you might want to consider whether this is a trafficking situation and investigate it through that lens."
Trafficking affects men and women and occurs in major U.S. ports but also in remote locations, Stanger said, citing cases of forced labor in a Wyoming laundry as well as in an Alaska strip club.
The training sessions also will lay out how victims can be served best by social service. Stanger said victims often have critical needs for shelter, legal aid and medical and emotional treatment that go unmet.
Federal legislation passed three years ago cleared away some major hurdles, including providing emergency visas enabling victims to remain in this country so they can assist prosecution. That law, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, is up for renewal in Congress this session, she said.
The law also enables prosecution for employers using forced labor without evidence of physical imprisonment. The victim's fear is the most powerful jailer, she said.
"It really involves isolating victims, taking away resources they have," Stanger said. "It's not like there are bars on the windows. It's not the physical restraint; it's really the psychological manipulation."
Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.
