imagine you’re at the mall and you see a
13 year old girl with an older man and
you think to yourself who maybe it’s her
father there are plenty of kids at the
mall but then you notice that she’s
wearing a lot of makeup and she’s
wearing really dressed up clothes out of
proportion to her age they’re showing a
lot of skin and you say to yourself Wow
but that had been me out in public like
that I would have been grounded forever
it’s none of my business
or maybe you’re on a street corner and
you see a 15 year old boy looks more
like he’s 12 and it’s late at night on a
school night and you’re wondering what’s
he doing there
is he waiting for friends is he waiting
for drugs
he seems anxious he’s thin he’s pale you
say well it’s not my business and you
cross to the other side or maybe you’re
at a party and you see a Hispanic health
servant who’s being berated by the
hostess and you think to yourself Wow
what’s her story
and he say again it’s not my business
I probably will never see her again
what do you think you’ve seen it’s
hidden in plain sight what if I told you
that all of these people were victims of
human trafficking what if I told you
each one of them has their own story the
13 year old was sexually molested by her
stepfather at age five she was then
lured into the sex trade trading sex
from favors by their best friend’s
father the fifteen-year-old is a chronic
runaway bullied at school in different
parents and now he’s hooked up with a
pimp on the streets who also has three
other boys and they
sex for drugs the Latino 20 year old
housekeeper was sold by her parents in
Central America brought to this country
by her employers and and is a indentured
servant she works 20-hour days sleeps on
the laundry room floor is not allowed to
leave the house and they keep her
identity paper human trafficking is the
illegal trade of human beings for
commercial gain
it is prevalent throughout the world
there are over 21 million victims of
trafficking the UN estimates that it is
a 10 billion dollar of business annually
and it equals the drug trade and the
illegal arms trade there are essentially
20 million victims of which more than
half are children under the age of 18
they are trafficked from countries 127
in the red to a hundred and thirty seven
countries in the blue and guess what in
Florida were number two and try hard to
become number one so what is human
trafficking well there are two main
kinds number one is sex trafficking and
sex trafficking has over a million
children involved in it girls
predominantly age 12 and boys who
average age 11 they’re made to have 20
to 50 partners a day they’re not your
old street corner prostitutes this is
much more sophisticated now there are
websites on the line like that page
is just recently closed by the federal
government that sell children and trade
in humans now I’m sure there will be new
websites that will take back pages place
but there’s also escort services
modeling agencies agencies international
matchmaking agencies who will fill that
particular niche as well labor
trafficking is much more prevalent it
involves again child labor in the
majority these children are made to work
in agriculture which is number one but
also there are indentured servants in
the hospitality business hotels
restaurants and even construction
employment agencies training these human
beings while pair services throughout
the world which bring to us slaves in
which we commercially use so now you’re
asking yourself who it makes these
children what makes these people
particularly susceptible to human
trafficking well we know that actually
there is a marker in most of them
particularly the children they are more
likely to have had a history of violence
either personal violence or within their
families or even in their communities
they are the crime runaways who myth in
48 hours are lured up into the
trafficking business they are also those
kids in foster care but don’t fool
yourself there are also those kids in
suburbia who now trade in themselves for
personal expenses
gifts and false love so we’re all
susceptible but in particular children
are vulnerable these are the most
neglected vulnerable and indefensible of
human beings they have lost their
childhood they’re exposed to physical
illnesses and psychological traumas and
a greater rate and as a result they have
developed a higher rate of death even if
they survive even if they’re rescued
scars and the effect of human
trafficking remain with them their
entire lives research has shown us that
neglected violence and CHOP trauma and
childhood especially in the
developmental brain results in a state
of physical change that physical change
is manifested predominantly through
stress hormones they are higher they
result in a chronic chronic state of
flight-or-fight
and as a result they have higher rates
of high blood pressure cardiovascular
disease they also have higher rates of
inflammatory markers which has been
linked to a higher prevalence of cancer
when these traumas occur in the
developmental brain the neural pathways
and wiring is altered so that what
happens is you’ll see cognitive
impairment you’ll see changes in their
effect they’re blunted they’re depressed
and as a result they have also higher
prevalence of risky behaviors higher
smoking higher drug abuse overeating
under eating alcohol which all further
lead to
and higher rates of illnesses and again
contributing to their higher rates of
death so when we look at these
individuals it’s important to see them
it’s important to recognize who they are
and what is happening to them
some of you are saying well shouldn’t I
see some evidence of restraint most
traffickers actually control their
victims
psychologically through threats through
fear through creating a lack of trust of
others and a dependency on them I’m a
physician I work at the University of
Miami Medical School and Jackson
Memorial Hospital and we’ve seen a fair
amount of things one thing that’s unique
amongst traffickers and trap and traffic
victim is the so called branding that
they used to do with slaves
well now it’s modernized their tattoos
that indicate property barcodes the name
of the trafficker in unusual places
evidence that they’re just commodity
money-making machines and in the bottom
right hand corner you see one of those
traffic trap tracking devices that are
in dogs and cats well this one was at a
young girl so if you’re trying to
identify look for the signs they’re
hidden in plain sight now you’re saying
to yourself while I’m ready I’m going to
be Superman I’m going to help them
escape I’m going to save the day it’s
actually tougher than you think
one of the things that happens with
these victims as they’ve been
conditioned not to trust anyone and so
they’re not going to rattle it escape
they’re also very likely to fear
personal retaliation or retaliation to
their families back home and so they’re
not going to escape they’re also going
to have guilt of leaving their friends
or family behind and they have something
that we see in hostages which is trauma
bonding they’re so dependent on their
traffickers for survival that they’ve
bonded with them so it’s not so simple
there are no quick fixes and instead of
thinking that you’re going to be the
Superman reach for the real Superman the
people who work in the field who are
experts and who know how to intervene
this is a list of national as well as
local super mahir owes whom you make a
difference they not only rescue the
traffic victims but they also provide
shelter clothing resources for them to
be able to make new lives for themselves
so be aware of in your community of
what’s available reach out and involve
them there 24/7 services my involvement
with human trafficking was with my
colleagues at the University of Miami
Medical School we recognize the gap in
health care for victims of human
trafficking and we found in a free
clinic called Project thrive the
department’s we have representatives
from the department’s of ob/gyn internal
medicine psychiatry and pediatrics who
volunteer their time and come together
to be able to treat the victims who we
no longer referred to as victims but
referred to as survivors it’s trauma
based in
to care it recognizes the vulnerability
of this group and we’ve generously been
given the space and resources at Jackson
Memorial Hospital to have our clinic and
to grow it so that we can be available
to these victims they’re referred to us
from multiple sources we acknowledge
their strengths and their ability to
survive and we offer them the fact that
they are human beings that we respect
and we give them their dignity back and
also give them the choices and help them
navigate those choices because they’ve
never been given that before so I urge
all of you to see Sita victims
acknowledge them as human beings get
involved there are multiples places that
you can volunteer know the resources in
your community and become involved with
them you can make a difference all of us
together can make a difference small
things can make a difference and if we
magnify them by millions we can change
the face of human trafficking how many
of you eat chocolate come on how many of
you know how it’s produced the majority
of the chocolate trade comes from West
Africa it is harvested and manufactured
through child labour that child labour
involves five six and seven year olds
who are either sold or stolen from their
families and brought to West Africa to
be able to work in the cocoa bean fields
they work long days usually for no pay
and they have no
of ever getting out of that situation
until in when they physically become
useless but then they’re turned away
with no chance of ever making it as
adults so the next time you meet that
chocolate bar don’t just feel guilty
look for the fair trade label make sure
you’re not eating slave produce
chocolate all of us together can stop
human traffic if we just see it for what it is banking
13 year old girl with an older man and
you think to yourself who maybe it’s her
father there are plenty of kids at the
mall but then you notice that she’s
wearing a lot of makeup and she’s
wearing really dressed up clothes out of
proportion to her age they’re showing a
lot of skin and you say to yourself Wow
but that had been me out in public like
that I would have been grounded forever
it’s none of my business
or maybe you’re on a street corner and
you see a 15 year old boy looks more
like he’s 12 and it’s late at night on a
school night and you’re wondering what’s
he doing there
is he waiting for friends is he waiting
for drugs
he seems anxious he’s thin he’s pale you
say well it’s not my business and you
cross to the other side or maybe you’re
at a party and you see a Hispanic health
servant who’s being berated by the
hostess and you think to yourself Wow
what’s her story
and he say again it’s not my business
I probably will never see her again
what do you think you’ve seen it’s
hidden in plain sight what if I told you
that all of these people were victims of
human trafficking what if I told you
each one of them has their own story the
13 year old was sexually molested by her
stepfather at age five she was then
lured into the sex trade trading sex
from favors by their best friend’s
father the fifteen-year-old is a chronic
runaway bullied at school in different
parents and now he’s hooked up with a
pimp on the streets who also has three
other boys and they
sex for drugs the Latino 20 year old
housekeeper was sold by her parents in
Central America brought to this country
by her employers and and is a indentured
servant she works 20-hour days sleeps on
the laundry room floor is not allowed to
leave the house and they keep her
identity paper human trafficking is the
illegal trade of human beings for
commercial gain
it is prevalent throughout the world
there are over 21 million victims of
trafficking the UN estimates that it is
a 10 billion dollar of business annually
and it equals the drug trade and the
illegal arms trade there are essentially
20 million victims of which more than
half are children under the age of 18
they are trafficked from countries 127
in the red to a hundred and thirty seven
countries in the blue and guess what in
Florida were number two and try hard to
become number one so what is human
trafficking well there are two main
kinds number one is sex trafficking and
sex trafficking has over a million
children involved in it girls
predominantly age 12 and boys who
average age 11 they’re made to have 20
to 50 partners a day they’re not your
old street corner prostitutes this is
much more sophisticated now there are
websites on the line like that page
is just recently closed by the federal
government that sell children and trade
in humans now I’m sure there will be new
websites that will take back pages place
but there’s also escort services
modeling agencies agencies international
matchmaking agencies who will fill that
particular niche as well labor
trafficking is much more prevalent it
involves again child labor in the
majority these children are made to work
in agriculture which is number one but
also there are indentured servants in
the hospitality business hotels
restaurants and even construction
employment agencies training these human
beings while pair services throughout
the world which bring to us slaves in
which we commercially use so now you’re
asking yourself who it makes these
children what makes these people
particularly susceptible to human
trafficking well we know that actually
there is a marker in most of them
particularly the children they are more
likely to have had a history of violence
either personal violence or within their
families or even in their communities
they are the crime runaways who myth in
48 hours are lured up into the
trafficking business they are also those
kids in foster care but don’t fool
yourself there are also those kids in
suburbia who now trade in themselves for
personal expenses
gifts and false love so we’re all
susceptible but in particular children
are vulnerable these are the most
neglected vulnerable and indefensible of
human beings they have lost their
childhood they’re exposed to physical
illnesses and psychological traumas and
a greater rate and as a result they have
developed a higher rate of death even if
they survive even if they’re rescued
scars and the effect of human
trafficking remain with them their
entire lives research has shown us that
neglected violence and CHOP trauma and
childhood especially in the
developmental brain results in a state
of physical change that physical change
is manifested predominantly through
stress hormones they are higher they
result in a chronic chronic state of
flight-or-fight
and as a result they have higher rates
of high blood pressure cardiovascular
disease they also have higher rates of
inflammatory markers which has been
linked to a higher prevalence of cancer
when these traumas occur in the
developmental brain the neural pathways
and wiring is altered so that what
happens is you’ll see cognitive
impairment you’ll see changes in their
effect they’re blunted they’re depressed
and as a result they have also higher
prevalence of risky behaviors higher
smoking higher drug abuse overeating
under eating alcohol which all further
lead to
and higher rates of illnesses and again
contributing to their higher rates of
death so when we look at these
individuals it’s important to see them
it’s important to recognize who they are
and what is happening to them
some of you are saying well shouldn’t I
see some evidence of restraint most
traffickers actually control their
victims
psychologically through threats through
fear through creating a lack of trust of
others and a dependency on them I’m a
physician I work at the University of
Miami Medical School and Jackson
Memorial Hospital and we’ve seen a fair
amount of things one thing that’s unique
amongst traffickers and trap and traffic
victim is the so called branding that
they used to do with slaves
well now it’s modernized their tattoos
that indicate property barcodes the name
of the trafficker in unusual places
evidence that they’re just commodity
money-making machines and in the bottom
right hand corner you see one of those
traffic trap tracking devices that are
in dogs and cats well this one was at a
young girl so if you’re trying to
identify look for the signs they’re
hidden in plain sight now you’re saying
to yourself while I’m ready I’m going to
be Superman I’m going to help them
escape I’m going to save the day it’s
actually tougher than you think
one of the things that happens with
these victims as they’ve been
conditioned not to trust anyone and so
they’re not going to rattle it escape
they’re also very likely to fear
personal retaliation or retaliation to
their families back home and so they’re
not going to escape they’re also going
to have guilt of leaving their friends
or family behind and they have something
that we see in hostages which is trauma
bonding they’re so dependent on their
traffickers for survival that they’ve
bonded with them so it’s not so simple
there are no quick fixes and instead of
thinking that you’re going to be the
Superman reach for the real Superman the
people who work in the field who are
experts and who know how to intervene
this is a list of national as well as
local super mahir owes whom you make a
difference they not only rescue the
traffic victims but they also provide
shelter clothing resources for them to
be able to make new lives for themselves
so be aware of in your community of
what’s available reach out and involve
them there 24/7 services my involvement
with human trafficking was with my
colleagues at the University of Miami
Medical School we recognize the gap in
health care for victims of human
trafficking and we found in a free
clinic called Project thrive the
department’s we have representatives
from the department’s of ob/gyn internal
medicine psychiatry and pediatrics who
volunteer their time and come together
to be able to treat the victims who we
no longer referred to as victims but
referred to as survivors it’s trauma
based in
to care it recognizes the vulnerability
of this group and we’ve generously been
given the space and resources at Jackson
Memorial Hospital to have our clinic and
to grow it so that we can be available
to these victims they’re referred to us
from multiple sources we acknowledge
their strengths and their ability to
survive and we offer them the fact that
they are human beings that we respect
and we give them their dignity back and
also give them the choices and help them
navigate those choices because they’ve
never been given that before so I urge
all of you to see Sita victims
acknowledge them as human beings get
involved there are multiples places that
you can volunteer know the resources in
your community and become involved with
them you can make a difference all of us
together can make a difference small
things can make a difference and if we
magnify them by millions we can change
the face of human trafficking how many
of you eat chocolate come on how many of
you know how it’s produced the majority
of the chocolate trade comes from West
Africa it is harvested and manufactured
through child labour that child labour
involves five six and seven year olds
who are either sold or stolen from their
families and brought to West Africa to
be able to work in the cocoa bean fields
they work long days usually for no pay
and they have no
of ever getting out of that situation
until in when they physically become
useless but then they’re turned away
with no chance of ever making it as
adults so the next time you meet that
chocolate bar don’t just feel guilty
look for the fair trade label make sure
you’re not eating slave produce
chocolate all of us together can stop
human traffic if we just see it for what it is banking
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