Over the past week there have been several new offerings related to human trafficking:
Phil Borges has an interview on his blog with Rachel Lloyd, founder of GEMS (Girls Educational and Mentoring Services). “Rachel told me that historically law enforcement in our country has punished the victims of the sex industry—the vulnerable and exploited adolescent girls that are coerced and trafficked into the trade. She said that labeling and jailing them as ‘teen prostitutes’ instead of what they are–exploited and trafficked children– while ignoring the 30 to 40 year old men that sell and buy these girls has been a crime in itself.”
Listen to the 8+ minute audio file here.
Last week, the NY Times ran a series on young runaways, Running in the Shadows. You can read the article from that series focusing on teens and prostitution here; make sure to check out the embedded video that includes among other things, commentary from pimps about how they target young women (it’s a heartbreaker).
Also now available is an anti-human trafficking manual from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Meant to complement their Trafficking in Persons protocol (PDF), the Anti-Human Trafficking Manual for Criminal Justice Practitioners is a 14 module training tool and practice resource geared toward law enforcement and prosecutors. However, Module 7 (PDF) covers physical examination and evidence collection of victims and suspects, which I found an interesting read, even if it wasn’t really written for clinicians.
BTW, November is National Runaway Prevention Month.