Renewed commission focused on trafficking

By Alan Johnson

Columbus Dispatch

COLUMBUS

A state commission that pushed human trafficking into the law books and the consciousness of many Ohioans is being resurrected by Attorney General Mike DeWine.

Many young people in Ohio remain trapped in a “nightmarish maze of underage sexual commerce,” DeWine said in invitation letters sent to more than two dozen potential members of the attorney general’s Human Trafficking Commission.

The multiagency commission formed by former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, a Democrat, has been inactive since DeWine, a Republican, took office in January.

But DeWine said he is concerned that trafficking, likened by many to modern-day slavery, “threatens the safety of our children. ...Too few have hope of escaping unscathed or unscarred. We must do everything in our power to stop this exploitation and abuse.”

The renewed commission will meet in Columbus on Aug. 15 at DeWine’s office.

Under Cordray, the commission estimated that more than 1,000 children younger than 18 were sex-trafficking victims in Ohio in 2009. Thousands more were at risk.

State Rep. Teresa Fedor, D-Toledo, will remain from the original commission formed two years ago. Also invited to serve are representatives from other federal, state and local agencies.