Muslims Against Human Trafficking

An initiative of MY Project USA

 

MY Project USA combats human trafficking through direct services to survivors and at-risk youth, early intervention, and creating empowered and responsive communities

 

What is Human Trafficking?

 

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, where a person is compelled to perform labor and/or commercial sex through the use of fraud, violence, threats, and other types of coercion. Traffickers exert control by using violence, threats against a victim's family, isolation, and exploiting vulnerabilities such as language barriers or lack of knowledge regarding U.S. Law.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery, where a  person is compelled to perform labor and/or commercial sex through the use of fraud, violence, threats, and other types of coercion. 

 

• Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry worldwide, and that 20.9 million people are living in slavery globally. (The International Labor Organization)

• Sex trafficking accounts for 58 percent of all human trafficking cases that are investigated around the world. Women and girls account for 75 percent of trafficking victims. (United Nations Office of Drugs & Crime)

• A pimp can make $150,000 - $200,000 per year per child in the USA. An average pimp has 4-6 girls (slaves) The slaves include girls from all kinds of backgrounds, ethnicities, races, faith groups, and socioeconomic statuses. (The United States Justice Department) 

 

Sex Trafficking:

Sex trafficking which occurs specifically within the sphere of commercial sex work, where traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to force individuals to engage in commercial sex against their will. Under federal law, any minor under the age of 18 years induced into commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking, whether or not force, fraud, or coercion is used.

 

Individuals trafficked in commercial sex do not keep the money they earn and are often subject to violence by both their traffickers and patrons. Sex trafficking occurs in street-level prostitution, brothels, escort services, and otherwise “legitimate” businesses such as massage parlors, spas, and strip clubs.

 

In January of 2015, 18 women were freed from forced sexual slavery in several “massage parlors” throughout Central Ohio. In 2012, verdicts were returned against several Somali American defendants who had forced minor girls into prostitution in several states, including Ohio.

 

Labor Trafficking:

The majority of human trafficking is labor trafficking, where individuals are compelled to work by force, fraud, or coercion. Labor trafficking exists domestically and internationally, in virtually every industry, and can include child labor. Labor trafficking includes debt bondage, where a worker is forced to work to “pay off” a debt to their employer while racking up more “debt” to their employer for room and board. Individuals who are trafficked are often forced to work grueling hours under dangerous conditions for little to no pay.

 

Common types of labor trafficking include domestic work, construction, agriculture, traveling jobs such as carnivals and magazine sales, and manufacturing.

 

In February of 2015, Signal International was forced to pay $14 million dollars to several of over 500 Indian citizens whom they had lured to the United States on false promises of US Permanent Residents and subsequently enslaved.

 

Columbus, Ohio, has had several high-profile labor trafficking cases in recent years. In 2015, four were charged with forcing Guatemalan children to work and live in dangerous conditions in a Marion egg arm. In 2013, three people from Ashland, Ohio, were charged with forcing a mentally disabled woman and her child to perform domestic labor.

 

They maintained control over the pair with physical threats, with beatings, “taunting and threatening the victims with pit bulls and snakes, causing the victims to sleep in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, restricting their access to the bathroom, preventing them from eating regular and suitable meals and forcing the mother to eat dog food and crawl on the floor while wearing a dog collar.”

 

What Trafficking Isn’t:

 

It is critical that in working to combat slavery, we do not conflate voluntary migration or sex work performed by adults with trafficking. The hallmark of trafficking is force, fraud, or coercion.

 

Some Risk Factors That Can Be Controlled:

• Abusive or Dysfunctional Families 

• Lack of Awareness about Drugs

• Lack of Sexual Education 

• Abusive Foster Parent

• Ignorance about the Issue within the Community.

• Silence and Stigma regarding Childhood Sexual Abuse

 

What We Do To Protect Our Children:

• Educate & Help Parents to Grow Strong Families

• Create Safe & Productive Social Circles for Girls

• Mentor, Counsel & Shelter Abuse & At-Risk Youth 

• Raise Awareness within the Community. 

What You Can Do To Protect Them:

“And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass? It is the freeing of a slave.” (Holy Quran - 90:12-13) 

 

• Join Muslims Against Human Trafficking on Facebook.

• Donate to support our work. 

• Volunteer Your Time to Support the Cause

• Help Us Start More Programs in Our Community.

• Register to Become a Foster Parent, If You Can.

• Contact MY Project USA to find non­profits in your area who are working to combat human trafficking in your community.

• Volunteer with organizations that provide access to safe shelters, medical care, and legal aid. Access to these basic necessities leaves people in your community vulnerable and prevents trafficking victims from seeking justice.

• Raise awareness by speaking with classmates, colleagues, and faith leaders about human trafficking.

• Mentor at-risk youth. 

• Be a conscientious consumer: support brands that work to eliminate slavery in their supply chains with resources such as www.free2work.org

Resources:

 

HEART Women and Girls has comprehensive resources on Sexual Violence including fact sheets and parenting toolkits.

 

Big Brothers Big Sisters pairs mentors with youth in need of mentoring.

 

Polaris Project provides national and state-based information on Human Trafficking and a hotline for reporting human trafficking, and advocates for strong anti-trafficking laws in all fifty states and at the federal level.

 

The Salvation Army shelters and provides resources for trafficking survivors throughout the country and internationally. The ACLU is at the forefront of combating trafficking by supporting survivors seeking justice against their traffickers.