Collaborative to End Human Trafficking

The Collaborative to End Human Trafficking is a group of concerned persons and organizations in northern Ohio whose mission is to educate and advocate for the prevention and abolition of human trafficking, while connecting services on behalf of trafficked persons. The Collaborative members are committed to the promotion of human and civil rights, especially those of trafficked persons, and support the mission through their shared expertise in education, health care, law, and social service.

The Collaborative sponsors educational awareness events, provides speakers for diverse audiences, connects with local and national organizations working with victims, advocates for supportive human trafficking legislation, and builds partnerships to provide services for trafficked persons.

The Collaborative to End Human Trafficking
440-872-6500
collabtoendht.org
collabtoendht@gmail.com

In the News.

July 28, 2017

Sunday, July 30 is the 4th Annual World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Below are some prayer resources provided by the Center of Concern's Education for Justice. Visit the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking for more information on how you can help to end human trafficking.

Litany-World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
Prayer-Jesus, Companion of the Trafficked
Oracion-Jesus, Compañero de los Traficantes

July 25, 2017

Sr. Anne Victory was recently interviewed for a piece on Cleveland News 19 about human trafficking. She also wrote an op-ed that was published in the Plain Dealer.

View the video.

Read her op-ed.

November 2, 2015

Sr. Anne Victory and her work with the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking, was the focus of an article in The Global Sisters Report, a regular feature of the National Catholic Reporter.

View the article.

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are young children, teenagers, men and women. Approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders world wide, and between 14,500 and 17,500 of those victims are trafficked into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State.

Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor.

After drug dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world, and is the fastest growing.

Many victims of human trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry. Trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop factory work and migrant agricultural work.

How do Traffickers Work?

Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques including:

Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims
The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family
Isolation from the public - limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature
Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community
Control of the victims' money, e.g., holding their money for "safe-keeping"
Debt bondage - financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt;
Confiscation of passports, visas and/or identification documents
Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities

I am a human being…
and I have been sold.
I make the cell phones we use…
I clean the neighbor’s house…
I pick the tomatoes we eat…
I’m on the Internet…in the local motel…on the street corner...
But no one really sees me.

People often say this is my “choice”
I am called “illegal” …“prostitute” …“alien”… and worse.

So few know or care to know my story…
They don’t know…
that I came to America with the same hopes as their ancestors
to provide my family with a better life, to receive an education, to pay my child’s medical bills.

They don’t know…
…that I’m just a teenager that goes to school with their kids
…who ran away from home because of abuse
…who met someone who listened to me and told me that he loved me

I have been deceived.

By Jackie Komos
Research and Communication Specialist, Collaborative to End Human Trafficking

Additional Information

Learn more about this important issue by visiting these websites