'WE WANT TO
ENGAGE THEM'
BP:Your work not only gives them ‘’hope’’ for the future, but it provides an educational structure?
DB:Yes. We want to engage them. Pulling out 20 girls out of a brothel in Cambodia is a great thing, but we are setting them free to go where? To do what? What next? We want to create a system where they can engage in a sustainable solution, such as training them for work, education, offering them a job.
POVERTY AS A FACTOR
BP:To what extend is poverty a factor for human trafficking?
DB:Poverty may be the most common factor of human trafficking. Potential victims often do not see any exit from their life situation and going abroad with complete strangers is appealing. Money is appealing. Except they will never be paid.
TRAFFICKING IN THE UNITED STATES
The U.S. may be land of the free and home of the brave, but not for everyone. The 2013 Global Slavery Index reports that 60,000 individuals within its borders live as slaves. Of those 60,000, two-thirds are U.S. citizens.
BP: Those statistics for US are staggering. How can this be possible?
DB:Traffickers can be strangers or acquaintances, family members or friends. The economic, physical and social vulnerability of most victims makes them easy prey for traffickers, who lure them in with promises for a chance at a better life.
Many come from the same country or cultural background as their victims, enabling them to easily exploit the particular vulnerabilities of their targets.
Other traffickers employ violence to kidnap and maintain control over their victims. There is abundant money to be made, soaring demand and little risk due to difficulties in identification of the crime.