Amendment to Sex Trafficking Code Aides Fight Against Sex Trafficking

On July 24^th, 2013 a declaration by Congress and 47 State Attorneys General communicated their intention to amend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) and the Communications Decency Act (CDA) to clarify laws and remove legal loopholes which allow pimps and Johns to escape legal sanctions.

Internet content providers such as Backpage.com have provided an online market space for child prostitution up till now protected by the Communications Decency Act.

The Attorneys General have communicated with Congress requesting jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those who promote trafficking of children online by amending the CDA.

Several Representatives in Congress are submitting bills that permit prosecution of “Johns” in an effort to punish and diminish the demand side of sex trafficking of children. Additionally these bills call on the U.S. Attorney General to engage the efforts of existing anti sex trafficking task forces to increase the investigative capabilities and power of state and local law enforcement to prosecute the purchasers of sex with children.

Shared Hope International has been an important voice of advocacy for these changes in our legal code which will provide additional important weapons in the fight against child sex trafficking.

Richard Lazere on behalf of East Portland Rotary task force against H.T.

Operation Cross Country

During the weekend of 07.26.13-07.28.13, the FBI conducted a massive sex trafficking raid. More than 100 teenagers were rescued during this crackdown which swept more than 70 cities. This operation resulted in the arrest of 159 pimps and was the largest FBI action to date, signaling concerted action against the sexual slave trade. 

Pimps are especially adept at preying on troubled children who are enticed with compliments and gifts. These girls are then often “seasoned” or groomed for prostitution with beatings, drug addiction and multiple rapes. They are frequently trapped in a cycle that sees them forced to service fifteen to twenty men each day and are often abused and tortured to keep them in line.

This weekend sweep was the seventh iteration of Operation Cross Country which represents a partnership between Federal Authorities and The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the war against sex trafficking of children.

The tide is turning…Richard Lazere

Human Trafficking and a New Emancipation Proclamation

One hundred and fifty years ago, President Abraham Lincoln issued The Emancipation Proclamation freeing those who were enslaved in The United States.

In today’s world hundreds of thousands of young children and adults toil in bondage as labor and sex slaves. Children in third world countries are often sold by their families to human traffickers as a means of survival in places where desperation trumps family ties. Closer to home children who run away from home dispirited and suffering from family abuse and love hunger are prey to the pimps who recruit them and enslave them. Frequently, sex slaves are beaten, raped and drug addicted into submission and forced to service some fifteen to twenty men per day. When their usefulness as sexual commodities is past they are often dumped like yesterday’s garbage with minds and souls badly damaged and in need of resurrection and healing.

The world is quiet. The soporific of ignorance and denial allows this practice to continue and flourish with the toll on civilization, human dignity and victim self respect increasing day by day. 

East Portland Rotary has joined the fight against Human Trafficking and we serve as modern day “Abolitionists” trying to do our part to stamp out this evil practice of selling and renting our mothers, sisters and daughters for ill gotten gain by greedy and exploitive puppet masters. Rotarians are people of conscience who believe that this dehumanizing practice of human trafficking must stop. We have united with other organizations of like minded mission as well as individuals who believe that this modern day slavery is wrong. We believe that all human beings have a right to live free and unchained.

Sir Edmund Burke once said “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”.

What will you do to be a part of the solution to the problem of this modern day slavery?

Richard Lazere on behalf of East Portland Rotary