Carmela[/caption]Ernest Dempsey — January 11 is observed as the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in US. The Christian Post notes that today, the number of slaves worldwide stands at an estimated 27 million, most of them women. On this special day of global humanitarian importance, the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs held a conversation with a woman who, as a child, was victim of human trafficking and now works as an activist against this social evil. Let’s hear more from “Carmela” on this topic.
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Ernest: Carmela, I thank you for tending to my interview call!
Carmela: Ernest, thank you and my gratitude to the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs’ staff and contributors.
Ernest: My fist question is, what exactly is human trafficking?
Carmela: A rather insightful young man defines human trafficking as, “Human trafficking is the Holocaust waged against the generations.” The official explanation is given by the United Nations and defines human trafficking as, “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation". This from www.unescap.org/esid/GAD/Issues/Trafficking/index.asp.
Ernest: In general terms, what kind of a crime is it? And is it the same as smuggling people?
Carmela: Human trafficking is seen as a crime against humanity which cases may be tried under State, Federal, and Global laws. Smuggling people is when a “transporter” is paid by the intended to bring them across borders that a new life might be established for the betterment of the intended. Sometimes, smuggling may end up to be a situation of human trafficking, where the transporter decides to place the intended in bondage. That is the difference. In smuggling, the person, if not caught by authorities, is able to go free to build his or her new life. In case of human trafficking, the trafficker holds the person in bondage to the traffickers’ every whim.
Ernest: And what benefits the traffickers get from it?
Carmela: Trafficking people is a highly lucrative enterprise with “earnings ranging into billions per year”. Human trafficking is one of the top three most lucrative enterprises in the underworld market; the other two being drugs and arms deals.
Ernest: Do we have any statistics available, in the US and worldwide?
Carmela: As of yet, viable statistics do not exist. If any numbers are given, it is at best a guesstimation which varies in great degrees from one organization’s quote to another’s. Until a solid formula is conceived as how to ascertain the numbers of people being trafficked, any figure is at best a guesstimation. And given that human trafficking is an enterprise of the underworld market, it is possible that we may not be able to ascertain real numbers.
Ernest: So can we say that even today, human trafficking continues to be a notable threat to people in the US?
Carmela: Let me make clear that human trafficking is not a new phenomenon; slavery has always been with us. It did not end after the Civil War or Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. Until people’s perceptions change, allowing themselves to really see human trafficking for what it is, and for taking the practical steps to help crack down on the victimization of the men, women and children, human trafficking will continue to be a threat to the people in the United States and around the globe.
Ernest: Let’s hear a brief account of how you became a victim of this horror and what you went through.
Carmela: As a toddler, I was groped and molested by various relatives. When I was six years old, I was actually raped by an uncle. I did not tell anyone until I was a few days shy of ten years old. Upon telling my parents, my dad decided I was now a woman and had to “earn” my place in the house. I was already a domestic servant; my last chore every night before bed was to scrub the kitchen floor; now I was also rented out to men who wanted sex. My parents collected the money; for about four years, that was my surreal nightmare. I went to school during the day and endured a nightmare in the evenings and nights.
Ernest: How did you finally get out of all that mess?
Carmela: Neighbors and friends managed to help me out. Reading my Bible did also. By reading my Bible, I gained a moral compass I did not have from my parents, and I had the courage and strength to stand up for myself even if it meant punishments. Once I moved away, across country, then I was able to start a new life in earnest. My life does very much reflect me now and I am content. It is gratifying to help others out of situations that were so much like mine once was.
Ernest: Right. Now let’s talk about what groups of people are more vulnerable to human trafficking?
Carmela: Traffickers will use any healthy person they feel is marketable for the sex trade. If a person is healthy and strong, they may be used for slave labor. Sources of trafficked victims in the United States come from broken, dysfunctional, or divorced homes. If the teen for whatever reason does not feel loved or safe at home, they may take to the streets, forced to hustle or engage in survivor sex. Many of these teens are then taken on by a pimp where they are kept in bondage and circulated throughout the country, or even around the world.
From one female or male human trafficking victim, let us say, they start in the pre-teen years; by the time they are twenty, the trafficker has these options of use for them: used as a house laborer, a field hand, a nanny, a sex slave to be rented out or used by pedophile rings, strip joints, and in the escort industry, a child bride or groom, a mail order bride or groom, a baby breeder, a soldier, or a source for organs.
Ernest: We know families are generally protective of their children, and of all family members for that matter. But do we have many cases where one’s own family member(s) would give them into this human trafficking horror?
Carmela: In the United States, it is almost unheard of that parents would give their children over to human trafficking; but it does happen. Mine is not the only case I have come across over the decades but it is a rare occurrence to hear of such here in the United States. Normally, such cases are associated with families living within the borders of “developing countries” where traffickers use the ruse of promised education and or employment for the prospected target. The families, thinking they are doing a great service to the betterment of their child, give their blessing. When the child learns the truth, they may be too ashamed to return home or too far to do so. It can also be that the child is used to pay off an outstanding debt.
Ernest: Victims of this trauma are prone to get into crime, or taking the law into their hands; as we know happened in the case of Sarah Kruzan. So it implies that human trafficking turns some innocent people into criminals?
Carmela: In the case of Sarah Kruzan, we have a young girl at the age of eleven who was a scholar student abused and mistreated by her mother who used drugs. Her mother was befriended by a man Sarah calls “GG”. He at first acted like a father figure even walking her to school. At the age of thirteen, he started speaking with her about sex and putting the idea in her head that she should not have sex without getting something tangible in return. Later, that same year, he rented her out from six at night to six in the morning forcing her to drop out of school. By the time she was sixteen, she was one of his “wives”, and she already had three years of working the streets and being rented out. I am not certain of the circumstances but Sarah shot GG dead. The judge called the incident a pre-meditated murder and judged her as an adult with life in prison without parole. A campaign is being waged by many activists to help Sarah obtained her freedom with time served.
What the average person outside of the underworld needs to understand just as in any culture, the underworld has rules, mores, and customs that dictate the acceptable behavior. Your survival granted at the end of the day is a sign of acceptance and a reward for successfully maneuvering within or upholding those dictates within that society. I could easily have been Sarah Kruzan. I have done much that I am not proud of in the name of survival, but it was forced upon me. When I moved hundreds of miles away to start a new life, for the first time, I had a good life. It was a life that reflected me. It still does.
Ernest: How do you rate the law enforcement, particularly in the US, for their performance in checking human trafficking?
Carmela: I myself and Once Upon an Edenwork with individuals, communities, and organizations, so I am not qualified to answer questions about law enforcement.
Ernest: Do we have many organizations working for ending or minimizing this problem of human trafficking?
Carmela: Yes, there are organizations all over the world addressing the issues of domestic violence, child abuse, and human trafficking. These three scourges on humanity often go hand in hand. We do need more support for organizations such as Covert Intelligence Services that gathers intelligence for US Federal Agencies with the purpose of capturing pedophiles, pedophile rings, and human traffickers. Project Meridian does the same and they also help states write laws that are up to date with human trafficker tactics.
It is also imperative that organizations address boys’ and men’s needs. I come across many teenage men, college-aged men who are courageous to admit they were sexually misused or abused at tender ages. What is just as troubling is this same age range being raped at parties and then having to pay child support to their rapist because she bore a child as a result. Not all rapists are lecherous male pedophiles; some are kittens and some are also cougars. Many divorces can be attributed to men hooked on porn to feed an addiction that is rooted in their past abuse.
Ernest: This month, January, is National Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month and January 11, was National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Do you think a large number of Americans are aware of this threat?
Carmela: I would have to say due to great measures taken by activists and educators over the past several decades, and mainly this decade, there is a greater awareness in the United States and abroad than ever before. However, I do not think the average American is able to understand the connection the implications of human trafficking has upon their very own lives. One of the education tactics that is presented in seminars presented by Once Upon An Eden is enabling the communities to identity clearly the signs of human trafficking as well as to make the connection as to how human trafficking influences their own households and how their actions or purchases influence human trafficking.
Ernest: I would ask you to suggest measures of basic importance that governments need to adopt to curb human trafficking in their respective jurisdiction?
Carmela: I am an advocate of arresting the ‘clients’ or ‘Johns; along with the traffickers if the ‘client’ or ‘John’ or ‘Jane’ is a repeat offender regardless of their political connections. Unfortunately, many of the people who rent people in order to have sexcapades are some of the very same people who write the laws or govern the nations—who have taken oaths to uphold the protective laws against human trafficking. This is common knowledge among abolitionists, advocates, and other humanitarians and is a major hurdle to the advocacy concerning not only human trafficking but many other areas of humanitarian work. There are laws being passed against humanitarians that affect common citizens as well. Every advocate does their best to let the public know about these issues.
Ernest: And where can a common American citizen, including minors, get helpful information about the threat of human trafficking and related preventive measures?
Carmela: If one types in “human trafficking” into any search engine, many sites for organizations, videos, and listings for training seminars come up. However, there are a few that I network with and in some ways rely on that I would like to pass on to those who may read this interview. These include:
Protection for Men, founder and director R.K. Hendrick: http://www.protectionformen.com/blog
Trinity Alliance Films and Majestic Dreams Foundation, both founded and directed by Aimee Galicia Torres: http://www.themajestic.org
Covert Intelligence Services, founded and directed by Jake Collins: http://www.Twitter.com/JakeCollins
Project Meridian: http://www.pmfi.org
XoMoXnyc: http://www.XoMoXnyc.com
Once Upon an Eden: http://www.onceuponaneden.org.
Ernest: Well, this concludes our session. Thanks a lot Carmela for all your efforts against the darkness of human trafficking!
Carmela: Thank you Ernest, and to the publication of the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs for helping to get the word out and for helping to spread the education.
