On June 23, 2011 at the ATEST-CNN forum on human trafficking, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca reminded those attending that just because it’s a new day doesn’t mean the old ways don’t work. The people who fought against legal slavery had good ideas. So, below are a couple of the old, a couple of the new, and a couple of sparks to inspire you to combat sex trafficking.

Old

Pamphlets

During the early anti-slavery movements, pamphlet distribution kept abolitionist printers busy to help spread awareness. In the Library of Congress’s African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P.Murray Collection, 1818-1907 there are at least 100 pamphlets on anti-slavery and in From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909 there are at least 78 pamphlets concerning anti-slavery.

Boycotts

The Free Produce Movement (1790s-1860s) was a boycott against slave-produced goods (mainly sugar and cotton) that birthed organizations and stores that produced and sold only non-slave labor goods. Although ethically produced goods did not became less expensive than slave-made goods, “estimates suggest some 300,000 people abandoned sugar, with sales dropping by a third to a half” (from BBC article Tools of the Abolitionists).

 New

Flash Mob

Flash mobbing is when individuals socially coordinate, assemble in a public place, perform an unusual act and quickly disperse. This is an excellent way to spread awareness since it piques curiosity. Love146 held a dance flash mob called “Can You See Me?” in London. Professional performers volunteered their time to raise awareness about child sex trafficking.

Billboards

Sometimes billboards give us an unfortunate craving for a burger. There are times, though, when they give us important information. In response to the findings of the Washington Assessment on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, Shared Hope International launched the “Do You Know Lacy” national ad campaign. Starting in Washington, Shared Hope has put up billboards around Seattle to raise awareness about sex trafficking of American girls.

 Sparks

Smartphone QR Code Readers

Today advertisers and companies use barcodes can be scanned to deliver deals and information to a smartphone. These codes could be advertised on the bus or in the subway to give readers additional information on the issue. What a great way to say a lot with just a few lines!

 Click here for more ideas on how you can help fight against sex trafficking.

The 100,000 to 300,000 estimate of sex trafficking victims in the US has caused controversy. The Village Voice’s article, “Real Men Get Their Facts Straight,” a cheeky pun alluding to Kutcher’s Real Men Don’t Buy Girls campaign, targets this figure, saying that it’s a farcical overestimation.

The Village Voice looks at a different figure, 827, which is the average number of youth arrested on prostitution charges each year. What the Voice doesn’t realize is that the low number of children arrested on prostitution charges is a good thing. Increased training has resulted in law enforcement identifying prostituted children as trafficking victims, and thus, not guilty of a crime. Shared Hope International has trained over 10,000 first responders – many of whom now seek to place child victims in services instead of handcuffs. Jurisdictions that have a high number of arrests for prostituted minors indicate lack of training and a need to change department procedures to aid victims. Based on this, arrest records for prostituted youth should never serve as an estimate the number of trafficking victims in the US.

Other estimates vary. In a New York study, the number of prostituted children in 2008 in New York City alone was 4,000. A Georgia study estimated that the number of youth trafficked in Georgia in a year was about 4,000. Those are only studies from two areas of the US and are much larger than the 827 that the Voice supports in place of the number anti-trafficking advocates estimate. But why is the Village Voice so dedicated to targeting these larger figures?

The Village Voice has, for quite some time, run adult classified ads through Backpage.com. Upon the removal of the adult services section from Craigslist.com, the Voice benefitted from a huge revenue jump. Now, they’re claiming that their First Amendment right “was shouted down in the name of children.” However, the First Amendment has its limitations in situations where our freedom of the press and speech conflict with other laws—like the laws that make it illegal to purchase children for sex.

This freedom of speech, however, is quite profitable for online classifieds. In fact, the Georgia study found that ads on Craigslist for prostitution received three times as many responses as the same ads listed on similar sites.

It appears the Voice doesn’t put a face to any of these girls who were exploited through their site, even referring to the victims as “whores” in one point in the article. Perhaps if the Voice saw these girls as victims rather than a meager statistic, they would take some responsibility for perpetuating the trafficking of children.