Dear Editor:
I write to address the recent complaints about sex workers on the 500 block of Montgomery Street / Cornelison Avenue. I believe this is part of a much larger problem, and that the oppression and sexual exploitation of women and children is the greatest moral challenge of our time. We need to combat it head on.
The statistics are staggering: Human trafficking is the third largest criminal enterprise in the world, is the fastest growing, and has the largest profit margin potential. Estimates range between 12 million and 27 million victims worldwide. In the U.S., 1 in 3 runaways will end up in the sex trade in a matter of months, and about 300,000 kids are at risk of being lured into the sex trade every year.
I have been working for years with a variety of coalitions against human trafficking, and one thing that we consistently recognize is that it takes sustained and coordinated action by local, state, and federal agencies as well as NGOs, and service providers. With this background and experience in mind, I’d suggest a few steps we can take at this time:
1. Contact Polaris Project to organize a training workshop here in Jersey City.
2. Educate ourselves by visiting these websites: http://www.polarisproject.org/, http://www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/, http://nyclaht.wordpress.com/.
3. Contact the US Attorneys’ Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Governor’s Office for help with investigating the situation.
4. Enlist our state senators and assemblymen to strengthen the laws against human trafficking and prostitution near a school or house of worship; pass a version of Jessica’s Law to set minimum sentences for child molesters; create a Safe Harbor law for underage kids lured into prostitution so they’re treated as victims of commercial sexual exploitation of children; devote funds for creating safe houses and programs to help women and girls transition out of “the life;” and create a Johns school for those who solicit prostitutes.
5. Start a dialogue about our cultural industries and how the media commodifies and sexualizes women and girls, thus telling them that their only value is if they’re sexually attractive. And we need to change the way we raise our boys so they learn not to use women, but to treat them with respect.
6. Improve education and training programs for our children so that they’re better prepared to enter the workforce and not choose prostitution or drugs as a way of making a living instead; and strengthen the economy and support family-owned and small businesses so they can grow and hire.
It will take a sustained and coordinated effort by residents, law enforcement, healthcare and social service workers, as well as our local, state, and federal representatives working together to combat this problem. It won’t be easy, but we must try.
Stephen De Luca