Raising awareness to end human trafficking

Human Trafficking happens in every corner of the world, including our Greater Rochester Region. Yes, it is happening here.

In our community, force, fraud and coercion are being used to exploit people in the lucrative businesses of commercial labor and sex trafficking; and often these victims are children. The Center for Youth tells us over 100 Rochester youth are either being trafficked or are at risk for being trafficked each year. New York has the fifth-highest call volume to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center of all 50 states. As upsetting as the problem is, ignoring it won’t make it go away, but talking about it and educating the community about it will help.

Trafficking involves a person being exploited for someone else’s profit. Most trafficked minors have a history of abuse (sexual and/or physical); and often have lived in the foster care system or on the streets before becoming involved with a trafficker.

Many immigrants to this country fall victim to “agents” who keep them isolated, ignorant of their rights, and unable to leave due to threats, beatings and debt-bondage. And even if freed from their traffickers, victims still face the vulnerabilities they had before they were trafficked: mental and physical illnesses, stigma, isolation and often a criminal record that impairs future employment. Trafficking truly is modern-day slavery.

The Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking (RRCAHT) was founded with the belief that public education and coordination can help to end this human rights offense in the Rochester Region. Our website serves as a clearinghouse for information about the topic in general, but with a focus on local stories and resources.

We are committed to raising the local profile on this issue. We offer a monthly newsletter and online resources, customizable trainings for schools, agencies and the workplace. We have an initiative to focus on local hotels, which have the potential to play a significant role in recognizing and responding to sex trafficking. And in this New Year of 2017, Mayor Lovely Warren proclaimed January 11 Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Together with Commissioner of Monroe County Department of Human Services Corinda Crossdale and with Rochester City Council President Loretta Scott and the support of her colleagues, RRCAHT revealed our human trafficking awareness campaign which can be seen on RTS buses during the months of January and February.

We're doing our best to combat human trafficking. But we need your help. First, learn about it — what it looks like and who potential victims may be. Know the available resources and agencies that are here to help. Contact your legislators and tell them to support bills that protect children from abuse and help trafficked persons reintegrate into our community. Two important bills this year are the Omnibus Child Victims Act (S 809), which makes it easier to prosecute and sue people who sexually abuse children, and A 10353 which makes it easier for victims of trafficking to vacate convictions for things they were forced to do, and thereby re-enter mainstream society.

No one wants to think about human trafficking. But when we commit ourselves to thinking about it, to stopping it and to helping those involved, the picture becomes less bleak.

Celia McIntosh DNP, FNP-C, is chairwoman of the Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking.