Trafficking Billboards Going Up in Iowa and Freedom Truck at State Fair

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The new Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Enforcement Sergeant, Jared Arbegast, joined the Iowa NAHT Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, July 12th to give an update on the anti-trafficking awareness and training being carried out by the DOT and Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). The DOT currently has a team of 7 employees that do anti-trafficking awareness presentations. And Jared coordinates the training team. This includes a 30-minute awareness video for all new truck drivers at major companies.

Recently the DOT partnered with Bucket Media to create billboards regarding human trafficking. The billboards will be going up this Fall and will be displayed across major cities in Iowa. The slogan on the billboards is “Recognize and Report”. There will be a QR code on the billboard that will direct people to an informational video on human trafficking. See https://recognizeandreport.org/ for more information. The billboard locations include: Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids.

Again this year, the DOT also plans to collaborate with Truckers Against Trafficking to have the Freedom Truck Trailer promoting awareness of human trafficking for three days at the Iowa State Fair. They are also working on using this trailer at a fundraiser for Wings of Refuge next year. In answer to a question, Sergeant Arbegast confirmed that he is the point of contact should Iowa organizations wish to schedule the Freedom Truck for major events.

A current project they are working on is building a coalition with RV owners. They will aim to promote awareness and educate RV owners on human trafficking because they are travelers who could witness and report suspected human trafficking.

The DOT is also planning to build a coalition with the casinos in Iowa to educate employees and promote awareness. They are also continuing to train bus drivers in the state.

Despite an interruption due to Covid, the DOT is committed to doing human trafficking training for all 2500 employees at the DOT. They hold in-person human trafficking presentations with about 30-50 employees at a time. This permits the employees to interact and ask questions to the DOT trainers.

Sergeant Arbegast is now the team leader for the DOT’s human trafficking awareness, training, and enforcement efforts. David Lorenzen lead this effort in past years and did an excellent job collaborating with organizations such as the NAHT. Sergeant Arbegast may be reached at jared.arbegast.iowadot.us.

A21 One-Hour Global Broadcast on July 30th

A21 is a global anti-trafficking organization that will be hosting a global broadcast on July 30th, and the Iowa NAHT recommends Iowans connect with this one-hour virtual broadcast. This event is a great way to mark World Day Against Trafficking.

The global broadcast is a training to equip and inspire you in the fight against human trafficking, so you can stop exploitation right where you are. This year’s broadcast is focused on empowering people everywhere to identify human trafficking and how to make an effective report.

And it all starts with Iowans like you equipped to identify a potential situation of trafficking and report the necessary information to start an investigation.

In this one-hour broadcast, you’ll learn:

Common tactics traffickers use to control victims
Red flags to identify a situation of trafficking
What happens when you call the national hotline to make a report
How to make an effective report

Tap here to register for the event.

Honor Your Birthday by Supporting the NAHT

Are you on Facebook and do you have a birthday coming up? If so, please consider asking for donations to the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery. As a modern-day abolitionist, the NAHT mission means a lot to you. We hope you will consider asking your Facebook friends to contribute to the NAHT in honor of your birthday. You set a fundraising goal and Facebook does the rest. Go to https://www.facebook.com/help/1910205189301966 to learn how the birthday fundraiser program works. This is also a good way to inform friends and relatives of the NAHT mission.

Saturday, July 30th, is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

The United Nations designated July 30th as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness of this devastating issue and to promote the protection of people’s basic human rights. Trafficking is modern-day slavery, and this heinous crime is growing not only globally, but right here in Iowa as well.

Sex and labor trafficking is a thriving criminal industry, and traffickers continue to operate with impunity. Less than 1% of traffickers are ever brought to justice. Only a small fraction of victims ever receive trauma-informed, victim-centered support services.

We are not doing a good job of funding either human trafficking prevention or survivor service programs in Iowa. In fact, there is no dedicated funding from the Iowa legislature specifically for these anti-trafficking community-based programs. Federal VOCA victim service funding for human trafficking is funneled through the Iowa Attorney General’s office but has been significantly cut. Two of the NAHT 3 legislative priorities for 2022 which did not come up for a vote are listed below.

Request the Iowa legislature to allocate $10 million in state funds for victim services and amend the victim service budget line item to include human trafficking, homicide, and other crimes.
Request the Iowa Legislature to adopt legislation requiring schools to provide child sex abuse awareness and prevention for students, parents, and school employees as requested by Prevent Child Abuse in Iowa.

Iowa should be doing a better job of reaching out to the victims of this terrible crime by loving them and doing all we can to restore their lives. We should be raising awareness in schools and communities across Iowa in order to better recognize the dangers of trafficking and exploitation. Instead, Iowa is failing to fund these nonprofit programs and the federal government has cut back funding for education, intervention, and direct service programs.

July 30th gives Iowans an opportunity to band together and build momentum to defeat human trafficking. There are several coalitions and agencies in Iowa hosting events this Saturday (see poster below for West Liberty, Iowa event). Please let us know how your event goes and we will share a report in this newsletter.

Please make the Global Day against Trafficking in Persons the day that you become part of the solution and stand with us in this fight.

Report on Anti-Slavery Efforts in 188 Countries

The annual US State Department report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is now available at https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/337308-2022-TIP-REPORT-inaccessible.pdf. It’s 614 pages, but this year’s report is much more informative about human trafficking itself than in past years. Since it is from the State Department, it is international in focus and this year the US report singles out Russia and China for an increase in trafficking. This year the department addressed dealing with the trafficking of persons who are being trafficked within their native country. There is a lot of good information, including some survivors’ stories and efforts people in the 188 countries are making.

In the battle between traffickers and governments, traffickers are winning. Around the world, authorities aren’t making progress; they are losing ground. Since 2015, according to the TIP report, governments have reported a 45% drop in global prosecutions. Although governments’ responses to COVID-19 exacerbated this decline, the entrenched pattern existed before the pandemic. Even in the United States, the number of convicted traffickers has fallen from 526 in 2019 to only 203 over the past year. Although prosecutions alone are not sufficient to stop trafficking, they are a necessary and essential component of an effective public justice response.

According to the TIP Report, governments around the world collectively identified 90,354 human trafficking victims– a 24% decrease from the high-water mark of 2018. Using the International Labor Organization’s internationally accepted estimate that there are a total of 24.9 million victims globally, that means governments identified less than half of one percent of all victims Governments must do much more to identify, protect, and serve the 99.6% who remain under the control of traffickers. This calls for far more than a slight or modest increase in government efforts and resources.

Message from the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, regarding the release of the TIP Report:

Everyone should be free. And yet, through force, fraud, and coercion, human traffickers violate this most basic right. Traffickers’ exploitative practices affect every country in the world, including the United States, by diminishing and destroying our communities, sense of security, and the global economy. This year’s Trafficking in Persons Report turns the spotlight to more clearly illuminate the impact of human trafficking on our global community and on actions we can take as individuals, and as a society, to combat this deplorable crime everywhere it occurs, especially in the most at-risk communities.

This year’s report is released in the midst of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Russia’s senseless continued invasion of Ukraine and its devastating attacks across that country have inflicted unfathomable pain and suffering and forced millions of Ukrainian citizens and others to flee seeking safety. We are deeply concerned about the risks of human trafficking faced by individuals internally displaced by the war, as well as those fleeing Ukraine, an estimated 90 percent of whom are women and children. The food insecurity and other broader effects of Russia’s war exacerbate trafficking risks around the globe.

$15,000 Rotary Club Grant to Support Braking Traffik

17 of the 67 Iowa Rotary Clubs have joined together to form the District 6000 Prevent Human Trafficking Action Team. Each club is carrying out a community-based human trafficking prevention project in the next 12 months starting July 1st.The North Scott Rotary Club became the 18th Rotary club to join the Action Team. In the photo, you will see a $15,000 check passing to support the Braking Traffik Anti-Trafficking Survivor Service Program, which now falls under the umbrella of Family Resources based in Davenport. The money was raised through the North Scott Rotary Club “Rallies for Youth” auction.

From left to right: Marcie Ordaz, Deanna Jensen (Vice-President Elect of North Scott Rotary Club), Sarah, Alyse Hardin, Gretchen, Pat Olsen

Braking Traffik plans to utilize the money for 3 special needs:

$5000 to assist 10 survivors with $500 toward hotel costs per survivor
$5000 to assist 20 survivors with $250.00 towards public transportation costs
$5000 – 20 safety bags for survivor clients; each bag is $250.00, consists of basic toiletries, gift cards for clothes, food, etc.

The NAHT is collaborating with Rotary District 6000 to assist with the prevention human trafficking projects. Clubs are looking for local partners to carry out their awareness and education programs. If you are a human trafficking coalition or service provider we encourage you to contact your local Rotary Club to explore how you can both assist and benefit.

It’s Time to Act by Calling Members of the Iowa Congressional Delegation

The Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2022 (H.R. 6552) is the most comprehensive bipartisan, informed federal bill that has been continually reauthorized since its original inception in 2000. Now after being introduced for reauthorization nearly 8 months ago, it is stalled as one billion dollars in resources lies on the table to help rebuild victims’ lives.

This bill is appropriately titled the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act as it is inspired by Douglas’s life of bravery to advance dignity for all by abolishing slavery, America’s earliest state of human trafficking. The Douglass Leadership Institute works to preserve Douglass’ legacy of righteousness and justice by equipping faith-based leaders, especially in the African-American community to apply biblical principles to life and the marketplace.

They await justice for women and children who are still on the slave block as over half of the victims of sex trafficking are underage black girls. Human trafficking continues to be for the purposes of labor and overwhelmingly for the sexual exploitation of females and children. In a two-year review of all suspected human trafficking incidents across the country, 94 percent of sex trafficking victims were female, 40 percent were Black and 24 percent were of Hispanic descent. The average sex buyer in America is a middle-aged Caucasian man with disposable income.

To read more about this important federal legislation, tap here.

Information, Articles, and Resources

By Dr. George Belitsos on July 26, 2022 / News