Meet Jeanne Roberson
The oldest of eight children and the only girl, Jeanne grew up in poverty and suffered an abusive childhood. At fourteen, she ran away from home, met a man, became pregnant, and married at fifteen. The physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her new husband while carrying their child caused her to fear for her life and the baby's. With nowhere to turn, she moved back home with her family.
Jeanne's mother helped her navigate the welfare system to secure medical insurance, food, and housing assistance. Jeanne gave birth to a beautiful baby boy at the age of sixteen and a month later, met a woman who trafficked her into the adult entertainment industry.
"Today, I am a Survivor Advocate, Author, Speaker and I work in the Christian film industry. I volunteer with anti-trafficking organizations and share my story to educate, bring awareness, and help others recognize the signs of grooming and how to prevent child trafficking."
What is Human Trafficking
Defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations, recognize and define two primary forms of human trafficking.
Sex trafficking
It is the recruitment, harboring, transporting, providing, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for a commercial sex act induced by Force, fraud, or coercion.
It’s a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers control their victims to engage them in commercial sex acts.
When a person is younger than 18 and used to perform a commercial sex act, it’s a crime regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion is involved. A child cannot consent to these acts.
Any child involved in sexual activity in exchange for something of value or if something is promised—is child sex trafficking.
Forced Labor
Is the recruitment, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining of a person for labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjecting them to peonage, servitude, debt bondage, or slavery
The Statistics
There are over 40.3 million victims worldwide
The average is 12-14 years old
The Bureau of Justice states 4 of 5 victims confirmed in sex traffic cases are US Citizens (83%)
Polaris says the 150 billion dollar industry makes more money annually than Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined.
Who are the Traffickers
They can be a friend, neighbor, boyfriend, family member, or someone you meet. Traffickers are male and female. They target and exploit vulnerable people/children.
Anyone can be a victim of trafficking. Traffickers are on all Social Media Apps searching for anyone they can recruit, and they target all ages.
What is Sextortion
Predators pose as friends or romantic interests on social media sites and gaming platforms. Once they’ve acquired the teen's confidence, they request nude or partially nude body parts via webcam or photos. In some cases, teens are asked to do an explicit activity. Unbeknownst to the victim, they are being recorded by their predator. Soon, the teen receives threats from their new friend demanding money. The photos and videos will be sent to friends and family and posted online if a teen does not meet their demands. These young victims are terrified and devasted. Consumed by embarrassment, shame, hopelessness, and isolation, with nowhere to turn, some take their own lives, not realizing help is available.
How to Recognize the Signs of Someone who may be trafficked
What harm did I suffer as a victim? physical, emotional, or pecuniary harm as a result of the commission of a crime.
I’m not only a trafficked survivor, I am an advocate
SEX TRAFFICKING
Sex trafficking encompasses the range of activities involved when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion to compel another person to engage in a commercial sex act or causes a child to engage in a commercial sex act.
The crime of sex trafficking is also understood through the “acts,” “means,” and “purpose” framework. All three elements are required to establish a sex trafficking crime (except in the case of child sex trafficking where the means are irrelevant).
The “acts” element of sex trafficking is met when a trafficker recruits, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, patronizes, or solicits another person to engage in commercial sex.
The “means” element of sex trafficking occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud, or coercion. Coercion in the case of sex trafficking includes the broad array of means included in the forced labor definition. These can include threats of serious harm, psychological harm, reputational harm, threats to others, and debt manipulation.
The “purpose” element is a commercial sex act. Sex trafficking can take place in private homes, massage parlors, hotels, or brothels, among other locations, as well as on the internet.
Child Sex Trafficking
In cases where an individual engages in any of the specified “acts” with a child (under the age of 18), the means element is irrelevant regardless of whether evidence of force, fraud, or coercion exists. The use of children in commercial sex is prohibited by law in the United States and most countries around the world.
KEY PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPT
These key principles and concepts relate to all forms of trafficking in persons, including forced labor and sex trafficking.
Consent
Human trafficking can take place even if the victim initially consented to providing labor, services, or commercial sex acts. The analysis is primarily focused on the trafficker’s conduct and not that of the victim. A trafficker can target a victim after a victim applies for a job or migrates to earn a living. The trafficker’s exploitative scheme is what matters, not a victim’s prior consent or ability to meaningfully consent thereafter. Likewise, in a sex trafficking case, an adult victim’s initial willingness to engage in commercial sex acts is not relevant where a perpetrator subsequently uses force, fraud, or coercion to exploit the victim and cause them to continue engaging in the same acts. In the case of child sex trafficking, the consent of the victim is never relevant as a child cannot legally consent to commercial sex.
Movement
Neither U.S. law nor international law requires that a trafficker or victim move across a border for a human trafficking offense to take place. Trafficking in persons is a crime of exploitation and coercion, and not movement. Traffickers can use schemes that take victims hundreds of miles away from their homes or exploit them in the same neighborhoods where they were born.
Debt Bondage
“Debt bondage” is focused on human trafficking crimes in which the trafficker’s primary means of coercion is debt manipulation. U.S. law prohibits perpetrators from using debts as part of their scheme, plan, or pattern to compel a person to work or engage in commercial sex. Traffickers target some individuals with an initial debt assumed willingly as a condition of future employment, while in certain countries traffickers tell individuals they “inherited” the debt from relatives. Traffickers can also manipulate debts after the economic relationship begins by withholding earnings or forcing the victim to assume debts for expenses like food, housing, or transportation. They can also manipulate debts a victim owes to other people. When traffickers use debts as a means to compel labor or commercial sex, they have committed a crime.
Non-Penalization
Governments should not penalize or prosecute victims of trafficking in persons for the unlawful acts traffickers compelled them to commit. This principle aims to protect victims from being held legally responsible for conduct that was not their choice, but rather was driven by traffickers. If a government has penalized or punished a victim in such a way, the government should vacate the conviction and/or expunge the victim’s record.
State-Sponsored Human Trafficking
While the TVPA and UN TIP Protocol call on governments to proactively address trafficking crimes, some governments are part of the problem, directly compelling their citizens into sexual slavery or forced labor schemes. From forced labor in local or national public work projects, military operations, and economically important sectors, or as part of government-funded projects or missions abroad, officials use their power to exploit their nationals. To extract this work, governments coerce by threatening the withdrawal of public benefits, withholding salaries, failing to ad-here to limits on national service, manipulating the lack of legal status of stateless individuals and members of minority groups, threatening to punish family members, or conditioning services or freedom of movement on labor or sex. In 2019, Congress amended the TVPA to acknowledge that governments can also act as traffickers, referring specifically to a “government policy or pattern” of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers.
Unlawful Recruitment or Use of Child Soldiers
Another manifestation of human trafficking occurs when government forces or any non-state armed group unlawfully recruits or uses children – through force, fraud, or coercion – as soldiers or for labor or services in conflict situations. Children are also used as sex slaves. Sexual slavery, as referred to here, occurs when armed groups force or coerce children to “marry” or be raped by commanders or combatants. Both male and female children are often sexually abused or exploited by members of armed groups and suffer the same types of devastating physical and psychological consequences associated with sex trafficking.
Accountability in Supply Chains
Forced labor is well documented in the private economy, particularly in agriculture, fishing, manufacturing, construction, and domestic work; but no sector is immune. Sex trafficking occurs in several industries as well. Most well-known is the hospitality industry, but the crime also occurs in connection with extractive industries where activities are often remote and lack meaningful government presence. Governments should hold all entities, including businesses, accountable for human trafficking. In some countries, the law provides for corporate accountability in both the civil and criminal justice systems. U.S. law provides such liability for any legal person, including a business that benefits financially from its involvement in a human trafficking scheme, provided that the business knew or should have known of the scheme.
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How can we protect our children
These are Apps Traffickers have been known to use in finding their victims. Parents should discuss the harmful use of these App's with their children.
In addition to these apps, gaming is another strong concern for parents. More about gaming to come.
Parental control apps to help monitor your child's activity
Teaching your children to be safe
Talk to Your Children
Society is grooming our children right before our eyes—in such subtle ways that we don't even realize it. A group of innocent four-year-olds had to be disciplined for showing each other their panties while attending a prominent school. One had a rainbow, another had a unicorn, and the boy had Superman.
Why do children need images on their undergarments? I never thought about this and was utterly shocked when I told my granddaughter was one of the three children.
We need to be talking to our kids as soon as they are old enough to understand.
How do we talk to our Children?
- Teach young children the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching as soon as they are old enough to understand.
- Do not force children to hug or kiss anyone, including family members. Let it be their choice.
- Explain the importance of privacy. Remind them to close the door when toileting, changing their clothes, bathing, etc.
- Ensure your child understands the difference between a secret and a surprise and the importance of letting you know if someone has told them not to tell you something, even if it's a family member.
- Most importantly, build trust with your child. Tell them they can talk to you about anything and assure them you won't get angry.
- Always be approachable and let them know that no matter how bad the problem is, you will work it out together.
- Monitor and limit children's screen time on phones, tablets, and television. Help them learn to enjoy reading books, and allow them to be creative through art and play.
- Implement Parental controls on all devices. Unexpected advertisements can pop up, raising a child's innocent curiosity.
- Talk to them about inappropriate content and help them understand what porn is.
- Stress the need for them to come to you immediately if someone has shown them something inappropriate, even if it's one of their friends.
- Be a good example and avoid participating in online and social media sites you don't want your child to use. I overheard a conversation with a group of five-year-olds about TikTok. One of the moms gave her child her phone to play with, and the site came up.
- Know your children's passwords, and set boundaries and time frames of use.
- Create an agreement with your child (you both sign). It should state that owning a phone comes with responsibility. Staying away from inappropriate social media sites, behaviors, pictures, requests, etc., can help keep your children safe.
- Encourage your child not to delete an inappropriate image until you have notified the authorities. The picture your child saw could be a victim of trafficking, and the trafficker may be pursuing your child.
- Gabb, Bark, and other companies offer parental-controlled phone options. Children can talk with friends and family but cannot access the Internet, social media, the app store, or unsafe app sites. Parents can adjust the phone's capabilities as the child becomes ready. https://gabb.com/why-gabb/
The more screen time children are exposed to, the less they want to interact with family. They become moody, and their concentration level is minimized, especially in older children.
What we allow to enter our child's minds will influence their attention span and learning capabilities.
