Educate youth and adults regarding the trafficking trends of sexual exploitation, prostitution, pornography, and sexual violence with a focus on domestic human trafficking.
Consult with individuals, organizations and/or companies regarding matters pertaining to sexual exploitation, predator behavior, and human trafficking.
Record Mr. Barnaba’s Street Outreach Methodology and how he cares for victims in order to produce educational manuals and videos to train professionals regarding domestic human trafficking, how to identify victims and address their unique mental health needs.
Support individuals who have been, or are currently, being sexually exploited, trafficked, or who are at risk.
Provide direct assistance to victims including clothing and food; referrals to shelter or suitable programs; and provides a sense of hope to these women and children neglected by society.
Inform the public through various media outlets.
Develop and raise funds to sustain a healthy non-profit devoted to all of the aforementioned.
According to the U.S. Department of State, there are an estimated 800,000 – 1,200,000 children, women and men trafficked across international borders each year. Of this number, an estimated 17,500 are trafficked into the United States. 80% are estimated to be female and 50% are minors.
Unicef estimates that 1.2 MILLION people are trafficked every year throughout the world.
That equates to 2 people every minute!
In total, the United Nations estimates that there are 12.5 million trafficked children, women and men worldwide.
Domestic
The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that there are 200,000 U.S. citizens, mainly children and young women, who are at high risk of being trafficked throughout the U.S for sexual purposes.
Organized Crime
According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is the world’s most organized lucrative crime next to drugs and arms dealing. Many drugs and arms dealers are now adding human trafficking to their racket as well. The reason:
You can only sell drugs or a weapon once,
but you can sell a girl or boy fifteen to forty times a night.
Demand
Demand is the most significant factor fueling human trafficking. Please take the time to view a video created by Shared Hope International which movingly describes the impact of demand on the girls, women and boys who have become exploited commodities.
Questions & Answers
What does prostitution and human trafficking mean?
Human trafficking is a broad term that refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons by means of threat or force or other forms of coercion, deception, or the abuse of power against a person of vulnerability for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation includes prostitution, other forms of sexual exploitation and forced labor comparable to slavery.
Human trafficking = modern-day slavery
Prostitution is the “voluntary or involuntary” act of selling sexual services in exchange for money, drugs or other forms of payment such as debt bondage.
Don’t “prostitutes” have a choice?
The portrayal of prostitutes in Hollywood and Broadway is different than the reality of most prostituted women and youth. Movies like “Pretty Women,” songs like “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” and musicals such as “The Life” suggest that prostitution is a glamorous and even a desirable career choice. But how many children do you know said: “Mommy, I want to be a prostitute when I grow up?”
Hollywood’s primary goal is to entertain, not educate. While entertainment plays an important role in society and its value should not be minimized, it is important to recognize that its portrayal of prostitution has had devastating consequences on society’s perception of the reality of it (bear with me here, just because you are smarter doesn’t mean that other people are!).
For the majority of prostituted and trafficked persons, the factors that lead them into prostitution include manipulation, poverty, coercion, physical/sexual/emotional abuse, drug-addiction, homelessness, lack of job skills and a misogynistic society that views women and children as sexual commodities.
Please consider the following before forming an opinion:
The average age of entry into prostitution is age 13 according to the Polaris Project, a non-profit based in Washington, DC.
WHISPER’S National Task Force found that 75% of prostitutes were abused as children.
In one study conducted by Dr. Melissa Farley and Dr. Howard Barkan, 68% of prostituted women were found to meet the criteria found in DSM III- R for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Prostituted and trafficked youth are commodities for their pimp or trafficker. Some trafficked and/or prostituted persons may be allowed to keep pocket change while others have to pay back a "debt" to purchase their freedom. Some traffickers even force their victims to pay to use utensils, clothes and other basic necessities, ensuring that their victim will never be able to buy their freedom.
Who is a prostitute?
First, the Barnaba Institute prefers to use the term “prostituted” or "exploited." The term “prostitute” suggests that the person is voluntarily exchanging sex for money in addition to reverting the blame to the victim, rather than the people who are promoting her exploitation. While there are sex workers who adamantly feel that it is empowering to sell your body, the Barnaba Institute feels that this is a small minority compared to the exploited and trafficked population.
According to several non-profits, there is not one type of person who is prostituted. He or she may have come from a wealthy family, a poor family, an abusive household, a loving household or from any race, religious or ethnic background. However, it appears that children from abusive or troubled households are more vulnerable to pimps and traffickers. Yet, in Mr. Barnaba's experience, he has helped youth and women who came from non-abusive families as well.
Victim versus Survivor
When using the term "victim," the Barnaba Institute is referring to a person who is
currentlybeing exploited and/or trafficked for sexual purposes. The term "survivor"
employed when that person is free from exploitation.
She must like what she is doing, otherwise she would just
leave!
When you first speak with a prostituted woman or youth, chances are you are not going to hear her cry for your aid or assistance. So doesn’t that mean that she likes what she is doing? Not necessarily. Think about battered wife syndrome. The cycle of abuse is tolerable to the wife only because violence is known to her; trying to break free from the abuse is often more terrifying than knowing that her husband will hit her.
Stockholm syndrome explains why prostituted and trafficked individuals fail to seek help or escape. It is not because they enjoy being enslaved; it is because they have identified with their captor as a survival mechanism to ensure that they are as emotionally and physically safe as possible.
Prostituted and trafficked victims also learn the fine art of acting. Physical harm, rape, beatings and threat to family members are powerful motivators that result in the prostituted individual adopting a persona that fits her surroundings.
What if she is eighteen or older? Isn’t it her choice?
The first important factor to consider is the age the person first prostituted. The average age of entry into prostitution according to U.S. nonprofit groups, such as Polaris Project and GEMS, is age 13 and 14, respectively.
If the person entered prostitution when she was eighteen or older, there are other factors to consider that may “grey” the line between voluntary and involuntary. Issues such as poverty, drug-addiction, homelessness, sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse etc. can result in a woman turning to prostitution feeling that it is her only answer. Other women may think that prostitution is only a temporary choice but soon find that self-blame and other emotions prevent her from gathering the strength to get out.
Why doesn’t the US just legalize prostitution?
Prostitution is heavily strewn with violence, drugs and degradation. By legalizing prostitution, society would be sending the message that the violence and degradation against children and women is acceptable.
Amsterdam (the Netherlands) is a well-recognized city for having legalized prostitution but officials in Amsterdam have recently stated that their intent to decrease the violence and illegal trade of humans has not been successful. In fact, the legalization of prostitution in Amsterdam has only increased violence, human trafficking and the number of minors sold for sexual purposes.
The best model to combat human trafficking is abolition, currently employed in Sweden. Since Sweden implemented the abolition model in 1999, there has been an 80% decrease in demand for paid sex acts in the region and many accounts that trafficking has greatly reduced. The abolition model includes offering support services and job training to prostituted women, rescuing trafficked youth and criminalizing traffickers, pimps and johns.
Educate youth and adults regarding the trafficking trends of sexual exploitation, prostitution, pornography, and sexual violence with a focus on domestic human trafficking.
message that the violence and degradation against children and women is acceptable.