Modern Day Human Trafficking
Grade Level: Middle and High
Overview:
Students will learn about human trafficking in the United States and read a short profile of human trafficking survivors as they think about the human rights that are violated in this modern form of slavery.
Time Needed: 1 class period
Objectives
During your session, students will:
- Define human trafficking and identify the international and United States policies that exist to prevent human trafficking.
- Create a public awareness poster on human trafficking directed at student peers.
Materials Needed:
Human Trafficking Law Handout
Procedure
- Have students read a story about a human trafficking survivor and then work in groups to answer the discussion questions. All story excerpts are from the Polaris Project at www.polarisproject.org
Natalia | Domestic Servitude Labor Trafficking
Thirteen year old Natalia was told by her parents she was moving to the United States with family friends who would allow her to receive an education and learn English.
Born and raised in a small village in Ghana, Natalia’s family was struggling to pay the school fees for their children’s education and welcomed the opportunity for Natalia to receive an education in the United States.
Shortly after she arrived in the United States, the father she was living with began to physically and sexually abuse the young girl, creating a constant environment of fear for Natalia. For the next six years she was forced to clean the house, wash clothes, cook, and care for their three children, often working 18 hours a day while receiving no form of payment. She was never allowed to enroll in school as the family had promised, go outside, or even use the phone. One day, after she was severely beaten, Natalia saw an opportunity to run away from the home and a neighbor called the police. She was then taken to a local hospital for medical care. The nurse assisting Natalia was aware of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center and referred her to Polaris Project New Jersey.
The Polaris Project New Jersey team met Natalia at the local hospital and immediately coordinated emergency services including clothing, a safe shelter, counseling, emotional support and case management. Now, nearly a year later, she is volunteering at a local animal rescue shelter, participating in a weekly poetry workshop, and is pursuing her education to become a nurse.
Sabine | Domestic Servitude
Sabine was the only member of her family to survive the genocide in Rwanda, so she agreed when a wealthy family offered her a chance to move to America with them. Shortly after arrival, however, she was imprisoned in their home; forced to work around the clock and made to sleep on the kitchen floor. Finally after six months of servitude, Sabine was allowed to go to church for an hour each Sunday. On one visit, she was approached by a kind Rwandan man who learned of her situation and helped her escape. He took Sabine to one of our partner agencies who immediately referred her to Polaris Project.
Brittany | Escort Service Sex Trafficking
A man approached Brittany at a mall in her hometown, asked if she was looking for a job, and gave her a business card for a local restaurant he owned. When Brittany called the number on the card, the man confirmed that he was looking for waitresses to start working immediately. Brittany needed the job and asked for the restaurant’s address, but the man told her he would pick her up at the mall where they first met. Instead of going to the restaurant, the man drove her to a nearby hotel and told her that she was going to be a prostitute instead of a waitress. At gunpoint, Brittany was forced to drink bottles of vodka and take blue pills that made her dizzy and disoriented. Brittany tried to look for help but was locked in the hotel room without access to a phone. After three days of being beaten, drugged, and forced to have sex with men, Brittany managed to escape and asked the first car she saw to call the police. Polaris Project provided case management services to Brittany, and, with time and a strong support system, she was able to enroll in school.
- Discussion Questions: What human rights were taken away from the survivor? What made the person in the reading vulnerable to human trafficking? What other people might be vulnerable to human trafficking?
You might want to have students refer to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml
- Class Brainstorm on Human Trafficking
Have a large piece of chart paper available for class brainstorming. Write the following across the top of the paper and ask students to share their thoughts. Assure students that it is okay if they don’t know the answers to these questions, this activity is to get everyone thinking.
Human Trafficking:
Who (ask students who they think is vulnerable to human trafficking?)
Why (why are people vulnerable to be preyed upon by traffickers? To do what kind of work?)
How (How might people be put in this position?)
- Share Human Trafficking Definition & Infographic with Students
Human trafficking is a criminal activity in which people are recruited, harbored, transported, bought, or kidnapped for forced labor, sex labor, or to become a child soldier. Traffickers lure individuals with false promises of employment and a better life. Traffickers often take advantage of poor, unemployed individuals who lack access to social services.
The United States Law: Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) further states that human trafficking is the recruitment of individuals for labor by force, fraud, or coercion. http://www.dhs.gov/human-trafficking-laws-regulations
- Student Discussion Question
Were each of the survivors that we read about obtained for labor? Was this done by force, fraud, coercion, or a combination?
- Looking at the Law: Human Trafficking
Ask students to think about:
What is it about human trafficking that might make it a hard crime to prevent? What levels of government do you think should be responsible for creating laws to prevent human trafficking? State, National, International? Why?
- Have students read excerpts from the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and the Presidential Proclamation – National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2012 in groups.
- Project Extension: Have students create a public awareness poster on this issue for their peers. Ask students to think about what would be helpful for people their age to know about human trafficking and how to gain their attention. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) modified from the Polaris Project The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 created the first comprehensive federal law to address human trafficking, with a significant focus on the international dimension of the problem along with a framework to fight trafficking at state and local levels. The law provided a three-pronged approach: prevention through public awareness programs overseas and a State Department-led monitoring and sanctions program; protection through a new T-Visa and services for foreign national victims; and prosecution through new federal crimes. The TVPA was reauthorized in 2003, 2005, and 2008 to provide great protections for U.S. citizen victims. In September 2012 President Obama gave an executive order to strengthen protections against trafficking in federal contracts. The following is a summary of key provisions. Prevention • An Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking is created within the State Department which is required to report on and rank countries’ efforts to combat trafficking. • The President may impose sanctions on countries that are neither in compliance with minimum standards for elimination of trafficking nor are making significant efforts to do so. • Creates public awareness and information programs, and international economic development programs to assist potential victims. • Requires the U.S. government to provide detailed information about human trafficking, worker’s rights, and access to available assistance to all applicants for work and education based visas. • Requires the Department of Labor to work toward preventing U.S. citizens from using goods produced or extracted with slave labor and provide of list of goods produced by slave labor and child labor. 49 HIGH SCHOOL – LESSON PLANS Protection • Gives protection and assistance to certain foreign national victims of trafficking, by making them eligible for the Federal Witness Protection Program and other federal and state benefits to the same extent as refugees. Benefits include educational, health care, job training and other social service programs. • Establishes the T Visa, which allows victims of trafficking to become temporary U.S. residents, through which they may become eligible for permanent residency after three years. • Authorizes new programs to serve as U.S. citizen victims of domestic human trafficking, including a pilot program for sheltering minors. Prosecution • Makes human trafficking a federal crime with severe penalties. • Mandates that restitution be paid to victims. • Expands criminal liability to those persons or organizations that financially benefit from human trafficking crimes, as well as obstruction and conspiracy. National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month Excerpts from January 2012 Presidential Proclamation: Human trafficking endangers the lives of millions of people around the world, and it is a crime that knows no borders. Trafficking networks operate both domestically and transnationally, and although abuses disproportionally affect women and girls, the victims of this ongoing global tragedy are men, women, and children of all ages. Around the world, we are monitoring the progress of governments in combating trafficking while supporting programs aimed at its eradication. From forced labor and debt bondage to forced commercial sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude, human trafficking leaves no country untouched. With this knowledge, we rededicate ourselves to forging robust international partnerships that strengthen global anti-trafficking efforts, and to confronting traffickers here at home. My Administration continues to implement our comprehensive strategy to combat human trafficking in America. By coordinating our response across Federal agencies, we are working to protect victims of human trafficking with effective services and support, prosecute traffickers through consistent enforcement, and prevent human rights abuses by furthering public awareness and addressing the root causes of modern slavery. The steadfast defense of human rights is an essential part of our national identity, and as long as individuals suffer the violence of slavery and human trafficking, we must continue the fight. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2012 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating in the annual celebration of National Freedom Day on February 1. I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the vital role we can play in ending modern slavery and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities.
National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies,