World Without Exploitation Anti-trafficking Webinar Highlights Needs To Eliminate Demand

For those of us who are extremely involved as anti-human trafficking advocates, one positive feature of our COVID confinement has been the number of excellent webinars that take advantage of technology to bring together experts in different parts of the world.

I am particularly passionate about the series sponsored by World Without Exploitation, a coalition of organizations and individuals working to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

One outstanding speaker was Valiant Richey, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings. Previously, he was a prosecutor in King County, Wash., where he was responsible for cases involving the trafficking and purchase of children for sex. His key message was that we must focus on the root causes of demand that lead to exploitation. He presented a number of statistics for the United States which, to me, highlighted issues that must be addressed.

First, 84% of those in prostitution are female; 13% male. Of that number, 52% are Black. Particularly vulnerable are minors, the vast majority of whom have been in child welfare situations, some in as many as 27 different homes and running away from them an average of nine times.

Another set of numbers he offered was: 72% of online buyers of sex are white, 79% have a college education, and 43% have an income exceeding $120,000.

These statistics help to illustrate some of the beliefs that are already at the heart of ECPAT-USA’s work. Unless the structural issues that make communities, especially communities of color, more vulnerable to exploitation are addressed, we will never be able to fully eradicate this crime. Through their survivor-informed programs, ECPAT-USA is able to learn from those who have directly experienced the intersection of these issues and trafficking and is able to continue to evaluate and innovate its work to best protect children and end trafficking in all its forms.

By Jackie Shapiro, ECPAT-USA UN ECOSOC Main Representative and former Chairperson of the ECPAT-USA Board of Directors

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