States Combating Human Trafficking

States Combating Human Trafficking

Introduction

U.S. Department of Homeland Security defines human trafficking as “the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act” (https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking).  As the free training resources for the bus and transit industries developed by Busing on the Lookout (https://truckersagainsttrafficking.org/bus-training/)  emphasize, however, any minor being sold for sex is a victim of human trafficking, whether or not the elements of force, fraud, or coercion are present. 

The National Human Trafficking Hotline counted 13,277 victims of human trafficking in U.S. (https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en/statistics). According to U.S. Bureau of Justice, 1,343 individuals were prosecuted for human trafficking in U.S. in 2020. Unfortunately, many more victims have not yet been identified and many more human traffickers have not yet been prosecuted.

Bus stops and transit stations are often places where traffickers approach their potential targets, who can be vulnerable, young people such as runaways.  The initial “friendly” conversation may lead to an offer of a ride, job, etc., and soon the victim is under the control of the trafficker and cut off from family, friends, or other supports. In the Polaris report, On-Ramps, Intersections, and Exit Routes: A Roadmap for Systems and Industries to Prevent and Disrupt Human Trafficking, researchers found that public buses were used as a method of exploitation 33% of the time, long distance buses, 19%, and ride-sharing vehicles, 9%. In Polaris’ survivor survey, 54% of survivors noted that access to transportation was a barrier to their leaving their situation.

U.S. Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking (ACHT) report Combating Human Trafficking in the Transportation Sector begins by explaining the dependence on transportation by human traffickers:

Traffickers often rely on the transportation industry in every phase of human trafficking: for recruitment, moving and controlling victims, and for delivering victims to buyers who will complete their exploitation through either commercial sex or forced labor ventures.

The ACHT report then outlines legislation, technologies, best practices, and recommendations to create a framework to build awareness and develop policies to support action. 

As shown, every state is working toward eradicating human trafficking through its DOT, RTAP, Transit Association, and all the way down to the individual transit agency level.  The following table reports on the programs and initiatives captured at the time of the publication of this article.

Conclusion

The table above lists examples of state transportation stakeholder efforts at the time of publication of this article but is not intended to be comprehensive.  It is hoped that others will read this and apply these best practices to their own agencies and organizations.  Every time one person is rescued from human trafficking, it is a life saved.

The best practices listed fall into the broad categories of training, partnerships, policies, outreach, legislation, reporting, advocacy, and enforcement. There are excellent and freely available trainings, reports, and tools available from U.S. DOT, Busing on the Lookout, National RTAP, and others that all stakeholders can leverage to start their own anti-human-trafficking efforts. 

U.S. Department of Transportation Advisory Committee on Human Trafficking (ACHT) report Combating Human Trafficking in the Transportation Sector provides several customizable tools. Appendix 7.6.1 provides a Model Comprehensive Strategy and 7.6.2 provides a Model Proclamation that any transportation organization can use and adapt. The table above builds upon the State Department of Transportation (State DOT) examples described in the report in Appendix 7.7.9. 

The Busing on the Lookout (BOTL) Transit and Motorcoach webpage has numerous free print and online materials in multiple languages that are designed to train bus drivers, terminal workers, maintenance staff, dispatch operators, ticket counter personnel, security guards, etc. on how to recognize and report signs of human trafficking they may be seeing in the course of their everyday jobs.

National RTAP provides BOTL training through its eLearning system.  A Transit and Human Trafficking course and refresher are available.  Learners who successfully complete the training receive a certificate of completion.



See the further information section below to get started with these and other valuable resources to end human trafficking in transportation.