Trafficking Alerts
- Illicit Massage Industry News Update
- How Child Sex Trafficking Happens
- NAHT Asks for Your Help
- Iowan Recognized for Contributing to National Core Competencies
- Morningside University Students Raise Sex Trafficking Awareness
- Uplifting Survivor Stories – a Free Forum
- November 15 virtual Iowa training
- A new video on recognizing the signs of trafficking in schools
- Fighting Human Trafficking in Iowa Summit – Save the Date
Illicit Massage Industry News Update
Heyrick Research highlights news about the Illicit Massage Industry (IMI) in the United States and the foreign victim pipelines that feed it. The IMI is a nearly $4.3 billion industry of over 11,000 domestic illicit massage businesses (IMBs). Heyrick Research’s work is useful in fighting sex trafficking in the United States and overseas. It has given the NAHT permission to share its September research report, which mentions five successful Iowa ordinances. Click here to read the report (PDF).
How Child Sex Trafficking Happens
What most people think they know about child sex trafficking generally involves stories – young girls and boys being kidnapped by strangers, forced into windowless vans, then driven to another city or state where they are kept drugged and sold over the internet in a hotel or motel.
While situations like these do exist, they are more of an exception than the rule. A study analyzing press releases and online media reports from over a nine year period found that fewer than 10 percent of cases involved kidnapping. The rest were far more complicated, far less “Hollywood.” The danger of these misconceptions is that while we are on high alert for windowless vans and teaching our children about stranger danger, we may well be missing out on what is really going on. There is still a tremendous amount to learn about human trafficking in Iowa and far more data and research is needed. But what we do know is a great deal about how victims – particularly young people – are lured into trafficking situations. The information below summarizes some of the best available research about how trafficking actually happens, so you can help to keep your families and communities safe. Click here to learn more.
NAHT Asks for your Help: Covid-19 Continues to Play into Traffickers’ Hands
Covid-19 continues to be a disaster for the fight against human trafficking. Since April 2020, this NAHT blog post has brought your attention to how traffickers are taking advantage of Covid-19 to further exploit vulnerable victims. Human trafficking thrives on chaos and desperation, and Covid-19 is continuing to fuel human trafficking globally. Here is how you can help the Iowa NAHT to meet its mission.
On November 30th, the annual GivingTuesday global fundraising campaign will be launched. This is a huge effort to promote donations to nonprofits such as NAHT. Grass roots donors gave nearly $2 billion world-wide on GivingTuesday in 2020. We hope to inspire you to go to our NAHT website at https://iowanaht.org/donate-now/ to make a donation between now and Tuesday, November 30th. If you prefer, go to our Facebook page here and donate through Facebook. Or you may simply write a check. Send your donation to our office at 5508 West Lincoln Way, Ames, IA 50014. Please make your checks out to Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking. Thanks for your help.
Iowan Recognized for Contributing to National Core Competencies
The NAHT is proud to share with you that our Network Vice Chair, Teresa Davidson, was recognized as an expert reviewer for the Core Competencies for Human Trafficking in Health Care and Behavioral Health Systems. These Core Competencies are now being distributed by the National Human Trafficking and Technical Assistance Center. Click here to learn more (PDF).
Morningside University Students Raise Sex Trafficking Awareness
Morningside University Students in Sioux City, Iowa are determined to bring light to the growing problem of sex trafficking. The week-long awareness campaign took place October 18th-22nd and was organized by Student Body President Garrett Arbuckle. His goal was to get information on sex trafficking to as many people on campus. T-shirts were sold to raise funds that would go towards the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery. The Iowa NAHT provided 200 rescue stickers to Morningside to be posted across campus. These stickers include the national and Iowa human trafficking hotlines and are pictured below.
A Morningside Associate Political Science Professor explained the importance of her students engaging with campus members to debunk common misconceptions about the local and global problem of human trafficking.
“I think some of the key things when it comes to the significance of this project is recognizing that anyone could be a victim of sex trafficking. So thinking about what that could look like and perhaps busting some of the myths that people associate about who potential victims could intend to be,” said Valerie Hennings, a professor at Morningside University.
As part of the students and faculties efforts, an expert panel as well as a viewing of an Iowa documentary that looks at trafficking, was hosted throughout this week. The Keynote speaker on October 19th was Heather Brown a former MU student and current board member of the Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery Board of Directors.
Uplifting Survivor Stories- a Free Forum
Our friends at Survivors Rising based in Omaha, NE, are hosting a free virtual event and Iowans are invited. A panel of survivors will be sharing how mentorship helped in their growth, healing, and journey towards getting their voices and lives back.
Thursday, November 4th, 6:00-7:30pm, FREE, virtual, and open to everyone.
Register now: https://bit.ly/Power-Of-Mentorship
There truly is power in community and these amazing panelists will inspire and share how mentorship impacted their journey towards freedom and rebuilding their lives
Human Trafficking Training for Any Iowan Who Comes into Contact with a Human Trafficking Victim
A New Video on Recognizing the Signs of Trafficking in Schools
This is a depiction of a true story about a private school student who was trafficked while attending school. It is provided by OnWatch, which has other informative resources and materials on its website. Click here to visit the OnWatch website.
Here is a link to the OnWatch video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4CMxabcMrc
Fighting Human Trafficking in Iowa Summit
After having been postponed twice due to the Covid pandemic the Iowa human trafficking summit has been scheduled for 2022. Please mark it on your calendar. More information is in the image below.
