News from Shared Hope International

August 7, 2013 by SHI Staff

5 Scary Statistics About Internet Safety

A new poll released by Netmums revealed shocking statistics on internet use by children. The survey of 825 children aged between seven and 16 and 1,127 adults showed that 16.7% of parents allowed children three years old or younger to go online. However, the most alarming statistics show how exposed and vulnerable children are online.

1. 42.1% of kids admit they have seen online porn. One in 16 have been exposed to hardcore pornography.
2. One in 12 have exchanged messages with sexual content to other people, while one in 25 have sent graphic photos of themselves.
3. 25% of children get away with pretending to be older to get an account online.
4. One in 20 children admitted arranging a secret meeting with someone they met online.
5. Almost three in 10 parents (29%) let their kids use the internet without any restrictions or supervision.

Child protection organizations have developed safety tools to help combat children’s ignorance and vulnerability to online predators.

Education

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has developed NetSmartz, a program that creates interactive, educational safety resources for children ages 5 to seventeen.
“Through age-appropriate activities, games, videos and safety presentations, NetSmartz prepares children to behave responsibly when confronted with issues such as cyberbullying, inappropriate content, online exploitation, revealing too much information, sexting and scams.” Netsmartzkids.org

In addition, NCMEC has created NetSmartz411, an online service to answer questions about internet safety, computers and the web. The site provides an online library for parents to find answers to their online safety questions. Visit www.netsmartz411.org for more information.

Protection:

Today, parents have a wide array of online safety restrictions available to help protect their children. Sheild Genie is a comprehensive parental control software that allows parents to limit or remove access online content and games, shield children from inappropriate contacts or advances, monitor and record all computer activity, alert dangerous behavior, receive danger alerts by text or e-mail and place restrictions on sharing personal information.

Report:

NCMEC, in partnership with the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, military criminal investigative organizations, U.S. Department of Justice, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force program, and state and local law enforcement agencies, operates a CyberTipline which receives leads and tips regarding suspected crimes of child sexual exploitation. The public can submit suspicious activity or suspected exploitation to the CyperTipeline 24/7. The TipLine is monitored by well-trained analysts who provide the information to law enforcement for investigation. According to NCMEC, over 1.7 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation have been made between 1998 and December 2012. Click here to make a CyperTipline report.

To learn more about internet safety and child sex trafficking, join us November 7-9 at Sharing the Hope for workshops and training sessions led by over 25 national experts, including presenters from NCMEC.

July 31, 2013 by SHI Staff

Back to School

Every year back to school season begins with the same fresh fervor. Children are outfitted with a new backpack, lunch box, crayons, binders, pencils, clothes and shoes. They anxiously wait to learn the name of their new teacher and cross their little fingers that their best friend will be in their class. But as every parent begins to prepare their child for another school year, there is one thing they often don’t prepare their child for: identifying and standing up against traffickers.

If you know a child, this article is for you.

“It will never happen to my child.”

This same thought that lurks in the minds of those parents who believe their child is immune to trafficking because of good parenting, income, social status, the neighborhood they live in or their child’s maturity and good decision making abilities is the same phrase the parents of the trafficked child often laments to us.

The truth is pimps target our children at the place they spend over 1,200 hours a year: their school.

“San Diego Police Detective James Hunter said…pimps recruit online, at schools, malls and bus stands.” – KPBS

“Federal prosecutors on Thursday accused eight people of recruiting underage girls from Inland Empire schools for prostitution.” –Los Angeles Times

“The leader of a Fairfax County gang accused of running a prostitution ring has been indicted by a grand jury. A federal grand jury has indicted 26-year-old Justin Strom of Lorton, also known as “J-Dirt”, who is accused of running a sex trafficking operation. Strom recruited girls at school, in the mall or on the Metro, according to Ronald Hosko, the FBI agent who took the lead on the case. “They had one girl who has a 3.9 GPA,” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said after the indictment. “Her parents are what most people would call very well-to-do in a good high school in Fairfax, recruited though a partner of the gang, in the school.” – WAMU, NPR

“It’s the most chilling of hunting grounds. Sex traffickers who coerce kids into prostitution are using the city’s schoolyards and playgrounds as recruiting offices. It’s such a troubling problem that Brooklyn prosecutors have started training educators on how to spot kids in peril on their turf. ‘It happens enough that I can say it happens a bunch,’ Assistant District Attorney Lauren Hersh told the Daily News. “Many girls are forced to go to middle school playgrounds and recruit other young girls.” Hersh, who runs a pioneering sex-trafficking unit for the DA’s office, has held several workshops and hopes to expand into as many schools as possible. Last fall, pimp Abking Wilcox admitted turning girls as young as 15 into being sex slaves and making them recruit others in Bushwick and Brownsville middle schools. Wilcox, who pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Criminal Court to three counts of sex trafficking, called it his ‘team.’ “ – New York Daily News

chosn2pkwebstore — Special Offer! 2 Chosen DVD & Training Packages

The best way to prepare your child is to teach them about the dangers they could face. Shared Hope has created a resource to make the conversation easy. In our new 20-minute documentary titled Chosen, two teen girls tell about their real experiences of being tricked into trafficking. The documentary contains mature subject matter but no graphic content, making it appropriate for teens 13 years and older. Additionally, the package includes presentation resources like discussion starters, ideas to take action, handouts and presentation ideas.

Help us reach America’s children with this important news by ordering a copy for your child or grandchild’s school, sports team, or youth club.

July 24, 2013 by SHI Staff

Anti Sex Trafficking Double Header: Amending the TVPA and CDA

Congress Files Bill to Amend TVPA to Combat Demand; State Attorneys General Ask Congress to Amend CDA

Arlington, VA— Today Government officials are taking two pathbreaking actions in the fight against demand for and online facilitation of sex trafficking.

Attorney General Letter Asking Congress to Amend the CDA

A bill addressing demand, those individuals buying sex with trafficked women and children, will be filed today to amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) to clarify the range of conduct punished as sex trafficking to include the conduct of buyers. Representatives Poe, Granger, Maloney, and Nolan and Senators Cornyn and Klobuchar are sponsoring the bill. The bill adds just two verbs to clarify the reach of the law: “patronize” and “solicit,” but will be a critical clarification of the intent of Congress to prevent, deter and punish demand. The bill also directs the U.S. Attorney General to engage the efforts of existing task forces and working groups to increase the investigative capabilities of state and local law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of demand.
Forty-seven state attorneys general and the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) are endorsing and circulating a letter to Congress advocating to amend the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) to remove the barrier to state prosecution of online businesses in violation of trafficking and prostitution offenses. Section 230 of the CDA, title 47, U.S. Code, provides criminal and civil immunity to Internet content providers, even when they allegedly participate in illegal activity. As a result, online classified advertising sites, such as Backpage.com, that have created a virtual marketplace for prostitution and child sex trafficking. Advance Interactive Media (AIM) Group estimates that online commercial sex ads will generate over $45 million in revenue this year, with over 80 percent of profits earned by Backpage.com. This change is particularly timely because sex trafficking has largely moved from the streets to the Internet. The amendment proposes adding just two words to extend to state and local governments the ability to investigate whether these organizations are aiding and abetting prostitution or related crimes.

“Buyers of sex with trafficking victims and executives facilitating online commercial sexual exploitation like those at Backpage.com are evading criminal culpability for their role in domestic minor sex trafficking. Amending these federal laws will close the noose on buyers and facilitators and bring justice to the countless children that are bought and sold for sex,” said Shared Hope International President and Founder, former U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith. “We applaud these government officials for bravely taking action to bring our laws closer to the intentions of our nation’s leadership.”

July 24, 2013 by SHI Staff

Don’t Ever Stop Fighting

Blog Post by Ethan Morrow

In the midst of pain, and what appears to be failure, what do you do? How do you get up and keep fighting? I had to ask myself that question last month when the Oregon House passed a very tough bill.

After weeks of fighting to avoid passing this bill via an online petition, the bill was passed. For me, this was a devastating blow to my gut. I felt like I had been punched multiple times. Because of this bill, it was still a misdemeanor to pay for sex with a minor in Oregon. Because of this bill, I still felt like our children could not be protected like they should be. As a dedicated Defender, there couldn’t be any worse feeling.

For a while, I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t motivate myself. After all, what was the point of continuing the fight? Was I even making a difference? So, for a while there, in my mind, I had given up. I had lost hope. It may not seem like a big deal, but for me it was. The Oregon Senate not passing this bill was extremely discouraging, because it was a very simple bill that protected children. That’s a no-brainer, right? If the Senate won’t pass a simple bill, then how will we do anything else?

But then, out of nowhere, an internal voice spoke to me. You are a Defender, Ethan. You are a Defender. Defenders do not give up. Then I was reminded how we did make a difference. In just over 5 days, almost 800 people from all over the US had signed that petition. Nationwide, people stood in agreement with me. Nationwide, people stood up and supported young girls. And people did notice. The press noticed. Nationwide, people cared.

So, do you want to know what I did?

I got back up. I got back up, made the simple choice to go to work, and kept fighting. I turned my deep disappointment into deep motivation. And to my surprise, a few days after that, all of the fighting paid off. I watched the miraculous happen as Senator Floyd Prozanski stood up and made a movement to take the bill back to committee so it could be re-amended, making it a felony on the first offense to purchase sex from minors. An article on this event can be found here.

Because we kept fighting, life change happened. Because we kept fighting, Oregon is properly protecting trafficked children. And I now I realize something: If we had stopped fighting after a devastating setback, it would still be a misdemeanor in Oregon to purchase sex from a minor.

So I have one simple message to say to all of you today. Defenders, don’t ever stop fighting. Keep fighting, and never give up. Because if we stop fighting, what are all of the young girls who are still being trafficked going to do? Who is going to defend them, through thick and thin? That’s our job, men. That is our job.

Don’t. Ever. Stop. Fighting.

July 22, 2013 by Guest

State Department reaches out to Interns to Spread Trafficking Awareness

Written by: Jessica Garber – Intern at Shared Hope International

An overview of the Fifth Annual Intern Roundtable on Trafficking in Persons, hosted by U.S. State Department, to which Shared Hope International sent representation.

TIP-roundtable — The official Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons’ Twitter account: @JTIP_State

Monday, July 22^nd, Senior Advisor to Secretary Kerry and head of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca hosted the Fifth Annual Intern Roundtable on Trafficking in Persons. Representatives from organizations across the Metro area were gathered for the event, some of whom had never learned about the issue of human trafficking until that very day. The unique part of the event is that it was about far more than numbers and more than the tier-rankings that appeared in the 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report—it was purely about the importance of joining the effort to combat worldwide human trafficking.

Ambassador CdeBaca spoke directly to my fellow interns and I, who are working with trafficking awareness groups, saying that many professionals in this area believe that they will one day be working next to us as colleagues. However, Ambassador CdeBaca inspired the audience by declaring that we have already joined the fight as colleagues by dedicating our time and energy to this stringent issue, empowering the future professionals in this area. He proceeded to tell a story of a young woman who was being trafficked and did not speak English, and every day when her trafficker would leave she would sneak the English dictionary and write a few words down on a piece of paper. After a few weeks, those groups of written words formed a note for help, which she tossed over the fence of the residence where she was being held captive. Because of her refusal to give up and determination to communicate this issue to others, help found her note and her life was forever restored.

It is groundbreaking stories such as this one that we don’t hear when we read a statistic that states the number of victims. Special Agent David Rogers, a panelist, remarked that this number of victims is in existence and it is not going away; therefore, we should remove our focus from trying to decipher this total and focus our energy on trying harder to eliminate the issue altogether. He advocated for a victim-centered approach to become the “norm” in our society, and that these women and children are being sold are victims, and if given the chance would give anything to lead a better life. Agent Rogers also discussed how human trafficking is so unique from other crimes because the damage that is imposed upon the victims is psychological—an extreme detriment to mental health, and even brain development in child victims.

Ambassador CdeBaca concluded posing a powerful inquisition: when these victims run toward freedom and walk into their new lives, will we walk with them? That is what we need to make our life mission—speaking for those who cannot.

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