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Activists raise awareness of human trafficking
By Sean Barron
BOARDMAN
One photograph shows a 15-year-old girl named Grace looking like many teens: short, styled blond hair, blue eyes and an innocent smile.
Another taken two years later, however, shows her with disheveled hair, a faraway look and a discolored face — all obvious signs of long-term abuse.
Welcome to the world of human trafficking.
“At age 17, she looks like she’s been run over by a truck three times,” said Isabel Seavey, a co-director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition on Rescue and Restore, a 3-year-old organization dedicated to stopping and educating others about human trafficking, often known as modern-day slavery.
Seavey gave a brief presentation Sunday at Evergreen Seventh-day Adventist Church, 7668 Glenwood Ave., about forced prostitution to roughly 50 people who also attended a screening of “Nefarious: Merchants of Souls,” a 90-minute documentary that explores the complexities of human trafficking, a billion-dollar industry in the United States and abroad.
Seavey said she didn’t know Grace’s last name or where she lived. Nevertheless, the girl died at age 17 a few weeks after the latest photograph was snapped, presumably from abuse the teen had suffered, she speculated.
An estimated 100,000 people are victims of trafficking in the U.S. annually, with more than 1,000 in Ohio, noted Jean Waris, a co-director of NEOCORR, which serves Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
Waris was unable to provide figures for Mahoning County, though both women said the problem locally is underground.
In the film, a few young women discuss how they were lured into the dark world of the sex-slave industry by promises of a better life, which included more money, love and acceptance. One woman in Las Vegas shared how she was unwittingly drawn in by the allure of ubiquitous glamour and other people making large amounts of money around her.
Under the glitzy veneer, however, the woman soon found herself trapped in a life that often consisted of being robbed, beaten by customers and sexually assaulted.
Several of the victims who participated in the film described lives of extreme psychological manipulation, control, exploitation, fear and isolation, which eventually resulted in deep depression, despair and feelings of worthlessness.
In addition, the film shows how the problem is especially prevalent in Asian countries such as Thailand and Cambodia, where countless young girls and, on occasion, boys, are sold for sex in brothels, karaoke bars and clubs.
Further complicating the problem is that some parents sell their children in the sex trade in an effort to escape poverty; others do so to have enough money to buy luxury items, the film points out.
In addition, some preteen girls groom themselves to be trafficked to “honor their parents,” according to the documentary, which estimates that 2.8 million girls and young women are forced into prostitution annually in Thailand, including 800,000 children.
On the other hand, Sweden has the lowest rate of trafficking of any European country largely because it believes that prostitution is synonymous with violence against women. Pimps and johns face stiff penalties for engaging in such conduct, while victims are soon offered services to escape that life, the film notes.
Even after being rescued, many girls and young women return to prostitution because it’s what they’re most familiar with. Adding to the daunting task of helping them is that some suffer what’s known as the Stockholm syndrome, a phenomenon in which victims are brainwashed to identify or sympathize with their captors, the documentary explains.
Those who escape or are rescued often attend restoration programs that consist of prayer, intense counseling and resources to aid in healing. To that end, some victims, as well as former traffickers, help others trapped in the sex trade, the film shows.
Seavey said she wants to see local law-enforcement personnel better trained to help potential trafficking victims and not automatically cast them off as drug addicts or willing prostitutes.
Despite growing awareness of forced prostitution, some people still buy into certain myths, she continued. Those include believing the problem is only in Far East countries, seeing it as a victimless crime, thinking that all pimps essentially look like those portrayed in movies and assuming all victims are females who have a choice and can escape whenever they wish, she noted.
In truth, perpetrators can be parents and have numerous occupations such as teachers, pastors and doctors, Seavey continued.
“Trafficking is about money,” she said.