Human trafficking and exploitation is a pressing issue that isn’t always given the kind of open, mainstream discussion it deserves.
The U.S. Department of State reports that about 27.6 million people are victims of trafficking globally at any given time. A serious human rights abuse, human trafficking is a threat with both national and economic security dimensions. It impacts people domestically and around the world of all backgrounds, genders, ages, and nationalities.
As a security concern, it’s something that often remains in the shadows. Security Magazine recently featured a piece co-authored by Jan Edwards, president at Paving the Way Foundation, and Kevin Metcalf, director of the Human Trafficking Response Unit at the Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General, which highlights the very pressing security implications of this bleak, devastating crime.
Contrary to popular belief, trafficking rarely involves kidnapping. In fact, Metcalf and Edwards report that only 0.5% of these cases involve kidnappings. Instead, they typically center on the victim being manipulated and groomed, ultimately developing a sense of trust with the trafficker. That individual might mask the threat they pose under the guise of regular, legal work opportunities. Someone might be working as a janitor or a housekeeper, all while falling deeper into the web of the trafficker’s manipulations.
Given how prevalent human trafficking is, Edwards and Metcalf zero in on clear signs to look out for. This is something everyone from the security professional to the layperson should keep in mind. Here are some signs to be vigilant about:
• A display of anxious behavior: The victim of this crime might be acting fearful or highly nervous when there is otherwise no clear threat present.
• Combative behavior: Someone whose default response to regular day-to-day stimuli — think extreme mood swings between anger and or annoyance — could potentially be illustrating signs they are being controlled.
• Withdrawal from one’s surroundings: An individual who finds themselves isolating from family connections, work, friends, or activities they usually love participating in with no clear, apparent reason, might be displaying a bright red flag.
• Low levels of eye contact: If one is interacting with a child at a community center who is avoiding eye contact at all costs or a nail salon worker who keeps fastidiously avoiding a customer’s gaze, they might be signaling that they are in a situation where they are being controlled. Metcalf and Edwards stressed that this must be handled with great care and cultural sensitivity — one’s personal threshold for eye contact and engagement in their own culture might vary widely from another’s.
• Uneven distributions of power in public: Another clear sign is if one person seems to be under the control of another. If one is observing someone directing another’s actions in public, where a perceived power imbalance manifests itself in one individual acting in a subservient way to another, there might be a situation where control is being asserted in a toxic and dangerous way. For their full tips and suggestions for how to spot potential situations where human trafficking is present, read the article here. Being cognizant of the reality that this is a pressing security issue can make all the difference in another person’s safety.
Peter Cavicchia II 