Human Trafficking
Where fathers make a difference
"“If I thought the father was a threat, I would not approach the child. If I thought the child had friends that he would tell, I would not approach him,” Jack Reynolds convicted molester of over 300 children said in an interview after spending 13 years in prison.
Father-Con was conceived after years of working on the prevention of human trafficking by getting men to join the effort to curb the demand for commercial sex. After numerous conversations with men and survivors of trafficking - the unique position of FATHERS in the prevention of human trafficking stood out as dangerously overlooked. Fathers themselves intersect with human trafficking in several ways: through paying for sex, and using pornography, as well as raising sons who follow their example or shape their sense of entitlement out of a lack of fatherly guidance, and raising daughters who are vulnerable to being exploited. Of course, girls can also be traffickers and boys can be victims of sexual exploitation, but the majority of buyers of sex are men and the majority of victims of human trafficking for sex are girls, that said, the ubiquitous presence of internet porn and the lure of young people to commercialize themselves through such online platforms as Only Fans, is broadening the base of who is a at risk.
The data of 50years of studies shows that an engaged and attentive father or father-figure can remove many of the risk factors that traffickers exploit in recruiting and grooming of children for sexual commercialization.
Fathers who recognize the significant impact they have on the health, safety and resilience of their sons and daughters, and those who have a supportive community, are some of the greatest deterrents to exploitation within a community.
Human trafficking is the business of stealing freedom for profit.
United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC
Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit. Men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world. The traffickers often use violence or fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.
What human trafficking is, and isn’t
Human trafficking is the business of stealing freedom for profit. In some cases, traffickers trick, defraud or physically force victims into providing commercial sex. In others, victims are lied to, assaulted, threatened or manipulated into working under inhumane, illegal or otherwise unacceptable conditions. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that denies freedom to 24.9 million people around the world. Please scroll down to learn more about what constitutes the crime of trafficking. We hope this information is useful to you. Please note that the staff of the National Hotline is focused on assisting victims and survivors and is not available to answer more general questions about their work or about human trafficking generally for research or other purposes.
Force, fraud, or coercion
U.S. law defines human trafficking as the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person into commercial sex acts or labor or services against his or her will. The one exception involves minors and commercial sex. Inducing a minor into commercial sex is considered human trafficking regardless of the presence of force, fraud or coercion.
Action-Means-Purpose
The Action-Means-Purpose (AMP) Model can be helpful in understanding the federal law. Human trafficking occurs when a perpetrator, often referred to as a trafficker, takes an Action, and then employs the Means of force, fraud or coercion for the Purpose of compelling the victim to provide commercial sex acts or labor or services. At a minimum, one element from each column must be present to establish a potential situation of human trafficking.
Quick Facts from UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Nearly every country in the world is affected by human trafficking, as a point of origin, transit or destination, and victims from at least 127 countries have been reported to have been exploited in 137 States.
Human trafficking is one of the most lucrative illicit businesses in Europe, with criminal groups making about $3 billion from it per year, making it a considerable criminal business that preys on the world's most marginalized persons.
In Europe, over 140,000 victims are trapped in a situation of violence and degradation for sexual exploitation and up to one in seven sex workers in the region may have been enslaved into prostitution through trafficking.
Globally, one in five victims of human trafficking are children, although in poorer regions and subregions, such as Africa and Greater Mekong, they make up the majority of trafficked persons. Women meanwhile make up two thirds of the world's human trafficking victims.