Today, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held an annual hearing with representatives from the U.S. Department of State to review the 2017 Trafficking in Persons Report. The State Department released the TIP Report on June 27^th, where Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for a “shared hope” among stakeholders that the 21^st century will be the last to see human trafficking.

Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-TN) presided over the meeting. He was joined by Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD), along with committee members Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Todd Young (R-IN), and Tim Kaine (D-VA). The Honorable John J. Sullivan, Deputy Secretary of State, and the Honorable Susan Coppedge, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons represented the State Department as the hearing’s witnesses.

The hearing gave Deputy Secretary Sullivan an opportunity to highlight specific countries that improved, or dropped, in their rankings. Both Afghanistan and Ukraine moved off of the watch list to Tier 2, while China, one of the most talked about reductions, fell to Tier 3 status.

A majority of today’s discussion concentrated on two countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Burma, whose TIP ranking improved in 2017,raising questions among the committee’s senators. Senator Menendez questioned Malaysia’s rise to Tier 2, stating that the sheer number of human trafficking victims in the country does not qualify its removal from the watch list. Malaysia’s climb from Tier 3 to Tier2-Watch in 2015 caused debate among government official, with some claiming that the decision was based on a political agenda. Ambassador Coppedge defended the State Department’s decisions, stating that rankings are determined purely off of the country’s efforts related to human trafficking.

Burma’s ranking was also questioned, specifically in regard to child soldiers. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently removed Burma, which moved back up to Tier 2-Watch after falling to Tier 3 in 2016, from a list of nations that exploit children as child soldiers; however the TIP Report, cite child soldiers as an abundant trafficking issue in the nation. Both witnesses stood by the Secretary’s decision, claiming that Tillerson made a factual interpretation based on the TIP Report’s findings that Burma recently released 112 child soldiers from government employment.

The witnesses also addressed the potential redesign of the State Department, stating that the TIP Report and anti-trafficking efforts will remain intact with a continued level of priority and integrity.

Shared Hope International works directly with anti-trafficking efforts in India, Nepal, and Jamaica. A blog covering these country’s 2017 TIP Report rankings will be released soon.

By Justin Pollard – Policy Intern, Summer 2017    

The story of one’s man impact on multiple generations

Supper wasn’t a hurried affair when Malcolm Burnett was growing up in the small town of Camas, Washington. It was a family time—a time for the adults to talk and the children to listen and keep quiet. Suppertime conversations at the Burnett family table revolved around current affairs and the family’s history, and Malcolm was an avid listener.

Sitting around the table one evening in the 1930s, Malcolm’s paternal grandfather, Dr. Charles Flagg, shared a story that made a lasting impression on his junior-high-aged grandson. After serving in the Philippines as a US Army surgeon during the Spanish American War and the subsequent occupation, Dr. Flagg was sent back home to Fort Vancouver in Vancouver, WA. Owing to the servicemen’s patronage of the houses of prostitution in the area around Fort Vancouver, the job of examining, treating, and keeping medical records for prostituted women fell to the Army medical corps. Dr. Flagg treated many of the prostituted women during his time at Fort Vancouver, and observed troubling trends in their health.

Malcolm, now his nineties, still remembers the shock he felt when Dr. Flagg said that the average life expectancy of the girls after they were prostituted was 7 years because of the diseases they would contract.

“Syphilis and gonorrhea were very common. In those days syphilis was treated with mercury, if my memory serves me right,” Malcolm mused sadly from the couch in his sitting room. “These things weren’t publicized in the papers, but the military knew what was going on.”

Dr. Flagg went on to tell the story of a middle class family whose daughter had disappeared. “Her brother went to a house of prostitution in Vancouver,” Malcolm recalled Dr. Flagg’s story, “I don’t know if he was going in search of his sister, or if he was a patron, but when the madam showed him to a room on the second floor, his sister opened the door! He and his sister tied the bedsheets together, escaped out the window, and made it safely back to their parents’ house.”

Dr. Flagg described prostitution as a “vicious heartless business,” and his stories made an indelible impression on Malcolm, who has held a firm, lifelong belief that “sexual exploitation through prostitution should not be winked at and kept hush-hush, but should be fought like any other crime.”

[easy-tweet tweet=”“Sexual exploitation through prostitution should not be winked at, but fought like any other crime.”” user=”SharedHope”]

“When you combine this history with the fact that I have four daughters, four granddaughters, and three great-granddaughters in my family, you can see why I support the work done by Linda Smith and Shared Hope International to eradicate this vicious, heartless business worldwide!” Malcom added, “Because I grew up with a strong feeling about people who make money on prostitution, we wanted to get behind her work.”

“When I worked for Boeing, I knew men who patronized prostitutes. It’s sickening how our culture accepts it.”

Malcom  determined at a young age to make a difference and to save girls from that life. He stays involved today by sharing the message of awareness with his family, friends, and church community. He continues to support Shared Hope in any way he can. He is particularly grieved by the way our society views prostitution as normal.

A few years ago, Malcom and Linda met over lunch to discuss several bills then being considered by Washington State to strengthen laws to prosecute those who buy and sell children. He leaned across the table and said passionately, “I may be 92, but I’m not dead yet!  What do you need me to do?”

Malcolm joined the forces of letter writing activists to convince state lawmakers it was the right thing to do, saying, “If everyone did something, we could get it done!” As a result of those efforts, Washington state is one of 7 states who currently hold an A grade in Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge.

Malcolm Burnett life is a powerful example of individual responsibility, active citizenship, and compassion. In passing these values on to his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren–and in the difference he has made through his contributions in the lives of those served through Linda Smith and Shared Hope’s work–Malcolm has created a living legacy.

Note: Nick Lembo is the original interviewer and author of this piece. It was modified by Jennifer Lindsay for use on the Shared Hope Blog.

My daughter was 10 the first time I heard that children were being bought and sold for sex in my community. These weren’t foreign children born in a foreign country, they were boys and girls born and raised right here in my own town. That day changed me.

Being a business leader gave me a natural platform to raise awareness about Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST)—and I used it. I discovered Shared Hope International while preparing for a local panel on trafficking and I appreciated that Shared Hope was working on the issue internationally, nationally, and locally, going so far as to supporting a restoration home for female survivors in my region.

In 2016 I decided to go beyond speaking about DMST and actively do something to help make a difference in the lives of victims of this crime. My friend Lisa Stirrett is a local glass artist who uses her studio to host community events. She also has a heart for this issue. The idea formed for a Party with a Purpose, in which she would create glass butterflies that could be sold as part of a fundraiser for Shared Hope and those they serve. We sold about 50 butterflies, many of which were donated back to create a larger piece in progress. And we didn’t stop there!

Lisa has added the glass butterflies to her Products with a Purpose line  as a way to continue the momentum and to provide a fundraising mechanism to give back to Shared Hope. Each butterfly purchased and donated back to the Lisa Stirrett Glass Studio will become part of a Butterfly Art Wall known as “Chrysalis,” with the net profits donated to Shared Hope. This wall will be a beautiful visual representation of the voices and lives of girls and women in trafficking being set free. We are currently in need of 50 more butterflies to complete the wall, and once it’s done, this will become a traveling art display housed in a public location to create ongoing awareness and to further the momentum of the cause. You can purchase them here.

[easy-tweet tweet=”This wall of butterflies is a beautiful representation of trafficking survivors set free” user=”SharedHope”]

This is our desire—creating an art movement of butterflies flying freely to represent an end to the pain and suffering caused to young girls and women because of the sex trafficking industry. In addition to collaborating with Lisa Stirrett Glass Art Studio, I am partnering with Shared Hope International because of the great work they are doing locally, nationally, and globally to educate and empower others to end sex trafficking.

So what can you do to end the demand of our children by traffickers and buyers?

I think the most important thing we as individuals can do is leverage our natural born gifts and talents where we’re already engaged. My background is business, Lisa’s is through art. Yours is uniquely suited to you. Whatever it is, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” as shared by Margaret Mead. Together, with our community, we are making a difference to end trafficking… and you can too.

[easy-tweet tweet=”The best thing we can do is leverage our natural born gifts and talents to fight sex trafficking. ” user=”SharedHope”]

By Shannon Bruce – Washington State