90. Preventing Human Trafficking Through Education with Brittany Dunn, Safe House Project
Summary
The United States holds a dubious distinction as one of the top three worst countries in the world with regards to human trafficking. In support of January’s designation as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Erica and India are joined by Brittany Dunn, chief operating officer of Safe House Project to discuss trafficking, with a special focus on child sex trafficking.
Armed with uncomfortable data, the trio explores misconceptions and hidden realities that keep human traffickers operating at large -- often in plain sight. Brittany also provides actionable steps we can take to spot, report, and prevent human trafficking in our own communities.
If you are triggered by discussions of child sex trafficking, please take care with this material.
After The Episode
Help us irradicate human trafficking in one of these two ways:
Join Pause On The Play Community members as we participate in an OnWatch™ group training on Monday, January 18 at 12:00 PM ET. Not already a member? Apply here: http://www.pauseontheplay.com/community
Complete the modules at your own pace via OnWatch™ Training.
Episode Notes
Meet Brittany Dunn
In 2012, President Barack Obama declared January National Slavery And Human Trafficking Prevention Month, citing January 11th as Human Trafficking Awareness Day. The proclamation drew attention to a shocking fact: The United States ranks as one of the worst countries in the world with regards to human trafficking.
Brittany Dunn, chief operating officer of Safe House Project, leads the charge to reverse that dubious distinction. Her organization’s two-pronged approach provides safe spaces for survivors and increases awareness amongst would-be allies.
Armed with uncomfortable data, Brittany, Erica, and India explore misconceptions and hidden realities that keep human traffickers operating at large -- often in plain sight. Brittany also provides actionable steps we can take to spot, report, and prevent human trafficking in our own communities.
Trafficking is not an easy topic, but it is a necessary one. If you’re triggered by discussions about sex trafficking and the exploitation of children, please take care of yourself and join us for next week’s episode instead.
Intersectionality Matters At Every Age
As is often the case with exploitive practices, people belonging to underserved communities and demographics are often the prime targets of trafficking. Of that group, children are the most vulnerable. “We believe that hundreds of thousands of children are being trafficked every year in the United States,” Brittany says, “but that survivor identification is at 1%.”
To better help survivors, it’s important to get clear on what trafficking is. As Brittany explains, human trafficking is the commercial exploitation of an individual through force, fraud, or coercion. Trafficked individuals may be pressured into labor, services, or commercial sex. Child sex trafficking is a specific form of an already egregious crime. When minors are involved in commercial sex, be it prostitution or pornography, one does not need to prove force, fraud, or coercion for it to be illegal; the act is considered sex trafficking. Period.
Numbers To Know
Hollywood loves to put on a show. Dangerous kidnappers. Ransom calls. Exotic locations. These elements sell movie tickets. Tragically, sex trafficking takes place much closer to home. Family members are responsible for the trafficking 40% of children in America. Brittany points out that, in this scenario, there is no movement of the child at all. “It is merely a family member selling that child for sex for one purpose or another.”
Involvement in organized crime or a predisposition toward pedophilia is a typical driver in the exploitation of children. Minors are just as likely trafficked to meet basic family needs like a loan or rent payment.
Bonds beyond the familial can also turn exploitive. 26% of survivors in the US are exploited in a trust relationship. In that case, the perpetrator is a boyfriend, neighbor, nanny, coach, clergy member, etc. who trafficks the individual.
Contrary to popular movie plots, abductions only account for about 4% of trafficking cases. The rest of the cases are categorized as runaways. When taken as a whole, the number of trafficked minors in this country is upwards of 300,000 annually. There’s a disconnect, Brittany says, between the statistics and the related media coverage - or lack thereof - to which the general population is exposed. “They say well, that can’t really be happening here. Well, it is. You’re just not looking for it in the right places.”
Trust Your Gut
Knowing how to look is as important as knowing where to look. Brittany advises allies to trust their instincts. Questionable situations give off an energy that raises alarm bells or, at the very least, warrants additional investigation. If you consider the previous statistics, there’s a good chance that a trafficked individual is living and being forced to operate in your community. Pay attention to the following clues:
Children trafficked by family members often present with mental health indicators. Adults, like teachers, counselors, caregivers, are in positions to recognize signs of depression, distress, or disassociation. Physical indicators include poor hygiene or insufficient necessities such as clothing, or a reluctance to go home.
Minors trafficked in trust relationships often withdraw from people and activities they once loved. The perpetrator may also prohibit them from speaking or participating in conversations even when the child is spoken to directly.
Monitor your child’s online activity for signs of predatory contact. Utilize tools such as Bark to keep kids safe while they surf. Traffickers can easily connect with minors online. That accessibility allows the trafficker to sufficiently groom and isolate children before ever meeting them in person.
Be open to signals that indicate a relationship (whether familial or trusting) has become abusive or isolating. See something, say something works best when we extend ourselves beyond the risk of possible embarrassment.
“We have to kind of be willing to step in a little bit further, to get more information when it’s kids that we might have in our sphere of influence that we could go a little bit further with on the questions,” Brittany says.
The Recovery Process Begins With Us
Survivors of human trafficking have enough on their plates. Brittany asks that the rest of us thoroughly examine and acknowledge our role in the supply chain for explicit material. “We have to acknowledge, as a culture, the normalization of porn, and sexually abusive content in different media formats. When we buy into content that drives the demand, individuals feel compelled to create more and more of that content, especially in the online space.”
Brittany says it can take years of advocacy by law enforcement, lawyers, and organizations like Safe House Project to remove pornographic content on a survivor’s behalf. “I think we all have to look holistically and see what areas of my life am I inadvertently and unknowingly supporting this industry by the nature of what we accept, or how we talk about individuals, or women...or girls in our homes or in our communities.”
Criminals have long since caught on to trafficking’s return on investment. Brittney lays out the disheartening economics with simple math. “You can sell a dime bag once, but you can sell a person multiple times a day.” It’s no surprise, then, that human trafficking is a $150 billion industry. Sex trafficking clocks in just under $100 billion annually. In this low-risk, high-reward illegal endeavor, savvy drug dealers combine trafficking with narcotics crimes. By forcing a trafficked individual to deliver or manufacture drugs, the dealer puts another layer of protection between themselves and arrest. By contrast, the trafficked individual faces additional pain, stigma, and possible imprisonment.
Six states don’t recognize vacatur laws, making the recovery process more challenging by not allowing survivors to expunge criminal activity from their records. Expungement is an essential step toward survivors regaining agency and self-sufficiency. Individuals with criminal records find it near impossible to secure housing, get jobs, or lay any sort of foundation for economic independence.
Empowering People, Saving Lives
“This is a battle fought on so many fronts,” Brittany says. Safe House Project continues to put pressure on legislators and push for outcomes that empower survivors. Likewise, Safe House Project encourages allies to take up the fight through education. Partnership programs such as OnWatch™ Training - a free program featuring ten modules of less than five minutes each - are foundational pieces in the plan to eradicate child trafficking by 2030. “But that means all hands on deck.”
Guest Bio & Contact
Brittany Dunn has the honor of helping lead Safe House Project as the Chief Operations Officer. Prior to Safe House Project, Brittany Dunn spent 10 years in International Business Development at CareerBuilder.com working around the world. Brittany Dunn has a BA in Economics and English from Wellesley College. She has her MBA and graduated top of her class from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a military spouse, mother of two, continual learner, world traveler, and protector of the vulnerable.
Quoted
BRITTANY DUNN
“At its simplest sex trafficking is the commercial, sexual exploitation of an individual through force, fraud, or coercion, but the important distinction to make is that if a child is being used for commercial sex, so that's prostitution or pornography, then it is considered sex trafficking, whether or not you can prove force, fraud, or coercion.”
“So, really, child sex trafficking is when a child is used anytime for commercial sex.”
“...breaking that cycle of victimization can be really challenging. And, so, we often find that these survivors don't totally know how to get out.”
“I think, honestly, part of it is trusting our gut sometimes.”
“And so I think we need to all step up our games a little bit on what we accept as normal behavior in the online space.”
“I think it's also important to note that what we're talking about now is sex trafficking and human trafficking is a $150 billion industry. Sex trafficking is a $99 billion industry around the globe.”
“Trafficking is the number one growth illegal industry or the illegal industry that's growing the fastest.”
“We aren't here to sit by and watch our children and vulnerable people in our communities become victims.”
“Education has the power to change history.”
ERICA COURDAE
“I think there’s also this kind of, like, it’s right in front of you and you don’t realize what’s happening here.”
“But being able to understand that there are some signs and signals that really takes something from just being a bad relationship or gas-lighting to truly something that is going to turn abusive that a person can’t find their way out of.”
“I want it to hit home because I don’t want you to be inactive in this.”