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Panel discusses human trafficking in Ohio

By Grace Scarberry, The Miami Student

Miami University hosted a panel titled "Human trafficking in Ohio, taking responsibility for change" on Thursday, Oct. 20 at Miami's Art Museum.

The panel was sponsored by the Honors Student Advisory Board with support from the Center for American and World Cultures and the Ohio Commission on Hispanic Latino Affairs (OCHLA). Several cases and statistics are showing human trafficking to be a rising issue in Ohio.

"In Ohio, an estimated 1,000 children are commercially sexually exploited each year," said Kristen Rost, director of the Ohio Children's Trust Fund. Other guest speakers were Andrea Lewis and Lilleana Cavanaugh from OCHLA.

Rost defined human trafficking as a "form of modern-day slavery where people profit from the control and exploitation of others." This control can include sexual exploitation, forced labor, or any other forms of recruitment or transport through coercion.

Sophomore Sarah Kingsbury had the idea of bringing the speakers to campus.

"Human trafficking is an issue that affects over 25 million people directly every day. An issue that large can't be ignored by those who can lower that number. Educating yourself on the facts, locations, and means to help is the first step," said Kingsbury in her blog titled "Unspoken Issue."

Kingsbury said she believes it is important for college students to be educated on such an important issue rising in Ohio.

Rost said traffickers typically involve pimps, gangs, domestic employers and even parents. They target people who are vulnerable because of their illegal immigration status, economic hardship, lack of English fluency, or those who are in vulnerable situations from natural disasters. They can be of any race, age, or gender.

Rost also said that in Ohio the most common age of entry to the commercial sex market is 13. Children who are runaways or in foster care are more vulnerable to traffickers.

"It's not 'child prostitution' it's 'prostituted child,'" said Lisa Thompson, the director of Anti-Trafficking at World Hope International. "The adult is the responsible party -- the one buying and exploiting."

Lewis concentrated on unaccompanied children in Ohio who typically cross the U.S. border by themselves and have no legal status. Because of this, they are easy targets for human trafficking.

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) conducted a survey on the number of unaccompanied children released to sponsors from Oct. 2015 to Sept. of this year. Half of the Ohio counties involved in the survey are from the southwestern region, including Butler County with 64 children and Hamilton County with 212. The other half includes Franklin County with 133 and Tuscarawas County with 88.

Lewis added that since 2013, the ORR has placed a total of 1,686 unaccompanied children with sponsors in Ohio. However, the sponsors are not compensated to care for the children nor do they receive legal status.

Rost said that kids who have been sexually abused or involved with crime during childhood are especially susceptible to sexual exploitation. She emphasized that such kind of behavior becomes normal to them since it is all they've ever known. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, children who experience sexual abuse are 28 times more likely to eventually be arrested for prostitution.

Rost mentioned several trafficking cases involving children in Ohio. In 2015, three Ohio residents and a man from Texas participated in a human trafficking organization that smuggled children from Guatemala. They forced them to work on an egg farm in Madison, Ohio and falsely promised the children an opportunity to go to school. Eight victims were under 18 years old and two were adults.

There is another case from 2014, where children younger than six years old from Ohio were trafficked by their parents. The parents exploited them in exchange for drugs, money and rent.

Rost included several observable indicators of someone being trafficked. Victims often face poor living conditions, lack personal possessions or seem fearful and depressed. They are also not able to freely speak or socialize with others.

"As we become more aware of the issue, we find more cases," Rost said. "You should know your neighbors."