By Marv Knox
Although the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865, predators still buy and sell other human beings across America, a social work professor and a police detective told a gathering of Texas Baptists.
Kim Kotrla, assistant professor in Baylor University’s School of Social Work
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Kim Kotrla, assistant professor in Baylor University’s School of Social Work, and Billy Sifuentes, liaison for the Austin Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit, described the status of modern slavery during a conference sponsored by the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.
Up to 27 million people languish as slaves around the globe, and 800,000 of them are trafficked internationally, Kotrla reported. Eighty percent of the world’s slaves are female, and 50 percent are children.
Human trafficking covers at least five issues, from labor and sex, to selling organs, babies and brides, she added.
Estimated annual human trafficking profits range from $32 billion to $91 billion, she said.
Both “push” and “pull” factors snare people in human trafficking, Kotrla noted. Push factors exist in a person’s home country—poverty, corruption, limited opportunities, war and cultural practices. Pull factors relate to the person’s destination—promise of a better life, hope for education, job possibilities and opportunity to send money to family back home.
“The United States always is in the top two destination countries” for human trafficking each year, she said. At least 15,000 trafficked individuals arrive in America annually, and sex slaves sell for up to $20,000.
Human trafficking is not the same as smuggling, Sifuentes stressed. People who are smuggled from one country to another pay for the transfer. People who are trafficked are forced, coerced or fraudulently lured into the process.
In addition to international trade, traffickers also peddle girls and women within the United States, Kotrla said.
The average age at which a girl enters the sex trade is 13, she reported, noting pimps often recruit minors on playgrounds, in malls and at bus terminals. Girls most at risk are runaways, throwaways, the homeless, and girls with a history of abuse, foster care, low self-esteem or family histories that include prostitution, she added.
Most prostituted children have a pimp, and minors may sell for $400 per hour, she said. A prostitute’s body is sold an average of 10 to 15 times a day, six days a week.
“Eighty-nine percent of prostitutes say they would like to escape but do not have the means,” Kotrla said. “Sixty-eight percent suffer Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at the same rate as combat veterans. The average age of death of a prostitute is 34 years.”
“Prostitutes are victims, not defendants,” Sifuentes added. “I ask victims: ‘Did you ever consider suicide?’ They all have.
“You meet a girl who’s a prostitute, and you’ll find a victim who’s had no life—no softball and dance classes, no Girl Scouts. Only rape, rape, rape.”
Kotrla and Sifuentes suggested several steps churches can take to reduce sexual trafficking and alleviate suffering.
“Jump on already-proven projects in your community, then develop them,” Sifuentes said. “Don’t reinvent the wheel.”
Helpful actions include:
• Provide volunteers for victims’ relief services sponsored by police departments. One group “adopted” a sex-trafficking victim and tangibly expressed their care by giving her a baby shower.
• Conduct neighborhood watch programs and report suspicious activity.
• Provide help for runaway shelters.
• Urge local law enforcement to operate “john schools”—mandatory awareness programs for men who buy sex.
• Demand restitution for victims.
• Support after-school programs to keep children safe while parents work.