The Metropolitan Times

Human trafficking has become such an alarming, yet understated issue that Baruch students have joined in on. The Human Trafficking Club at Baruch began to spread awareness about human sex trafficking. At the Club Fair, the club encouraged spectators to sign up for their emails by promoting an iPad mini giveaway. Members shared information about the Price of Life Campaign, aimed to expose the effects of and put an end to trafficking. The movement included a panel featuring a trafficking victim’s own story and various displays inside and outside the campus to make students aware of the issue. Future events and panels are in their planning stages.

Tenancingo, Mexico is known for its flower industry and for sex trafficking. One common practice of Mexican pimps is to seduce a girl, and trick her into the world of sex slavery. Before these girls are transported to other countries, they go through a process of “preparation,” a period of physical and psychological abuse. The United States is a major importer of these sex slaves; the greatest demand actually comes from the U.S. itself. These sex slaves are put into stash houses that are mostly in seemingly normal middle- class neighborhoods across the U.S. Many victims have yet to come forward with their stories because many Mexican authorities are corrupt and cannot be trusted. For more details on this article, follow The Girls Next Door.

For a long time now, there has been an increase of abduction and trafficking of children, especially boys, in China. Horrible events such as “A 9-month-old baby boy being grabbed by someone in a moving vehicle or a 3-year-old being enticed away by the offer of a slice of mango and a toy car,” occur regularly. Male children could be bought in China for less than $5,000 and then resold for almost triple that amount. For a full detailed report on child trafficking see Mark McDonald’s “Buy, Sell, Adopt: Child Trafficking in China”

NYT, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/View from Asia/ Buy, Sell, Adopt: Child Trafficking in China.html

Maria Rios Fun, a Peruvian women under the employment of a Peruvian diplomat to the US accused her employer of human trafficking and “entrapping her a life of involuntary servitude in the New Jersey suburbs” writes author Kirk Semple. Forced to work from dawn to 10 PM most days, Ms. Rios received far less than her orginally agreed wages, suffered garnishments to her wages and was only able to take 4 days off in 6 months. After calling a national human trafficking hotline, she fled and sought shelter as well as legal representation to seek reparations for her ordeal.

NYT, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/nyregion/housekeeper-accuses-a-peruvian-diplomat-of-human-trafficking.html

According to the Polaris Project, an advocacy group against human trafficking, 21-27 million people are held as virtual slaves globally. The Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation and Amtrak have pledged further “stepped-up efforts against trafficking”. Members of various companies within the travel industry spoke out about trafficking, noting that awareness of the issue is key to combating the growing issue. For the full report on the travel industry’s response to human trafficking in the US, read Tanya Mohn’s “The Travel Industry Takes On Human Trafficking”.

Human Trafficking Intervention Courts are created in New York to help victims of human trafficking and prostitution. Rather than treating women as criminals when arrested for prostitution, they are viewed as victims. These courts will help victims with education, job-training, health-care, and drug treatment to help them start a new life and refrain from returning to the sex field.

Owners of twelve spas in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn were arrested for selling sex behind their massages and therapeutics store front displays. These spas increased exponentially within a short duration, with the majority of its workers being Asian immigrants. The spas reached their targets through advertising on Craigslist. Residents complained about late night workers luring men into the spas. A larger kingpin is suspected to be responsible for most of the spas.