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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon

Time: 10:21 pm

Results for human sexual exploitation

3 results found

Author: Kreyling, S.J.

Title: Technology and Research Requirements for Combating Human Trafficking: Enhancing Communication, Analysis, Reporting, and Information Sharing

Summary: The U.S. Department of Energy’s Science & Technology Directorate directed PNNL to conduct an exploratory study on the domain of human trafficking in the Pacific Northwest in order to examine and identify technology and research requirements for enhancing communication, analysis, reporting, and information sharing – activities that directly support efforts to track, identify, deter, and prosecute human trafficking – including identification of potential national threats from smuggling and trafficking networks. This effort was conducted under the Knowledge Management Technologies Portfolio as part of the Integrated Federal, State, and Local/Regional Information Sharing (RISC) and Collaboration Program. The major recommendations of this report are: • Defensible methodologies are needed to estimate the number of victims of human trafficking, both nationally and regionally. Various modeling and expert elicitation techniques can be applied, using the members of each DOJ anti-trafficking task force as the pool of experts, including victim service providers. Separately, there is a need to harmonize and standardize the existing efforts to estimate the scale of human trafficking in the US. • Variations in the definitions of human trafficking employed by law enforcement, service providers, and others pose a significant challenge to accurate measurement. Develop and implement a methodology that helps practitioners clarify and describe their conceptual frameworks/mental models. • Further identification of information-sharing processes and technologies currently in use by both DHS component agencies and partner organizations that participate in each of the federally-funded Anti-Human-Trafficking Task Forces across the county is required. • Research is needed on the applicability of collecting victim data from a wide variety of sources beyond law enforcement, the outreach strategies necessary to increase the breadth of sources from which information is collected, the reduction of the methodological challenges as more data is collected from different sources, and methods for using this data for the regional examination of patterns and trends. • The information collected about human trafficking investigations by local, regional and federal law enforcement is not easily accessible by investigating agents and data is not efficiently compared between agencies or across systems. Identify an emerging industry standard for federated search and begin to move existing and new systems to support it. • Ad-hoc information sharing between investigating officers/agents in different agencies is difficult and not a routine occurrence. Given the difficulties of browsing and searching the systems of other agencies, research is needed into tools that can be accessed and edited by any vetted law enforcement officer, yet with fixed geographic and categorical sections to focus on their specific interests (human trafficking, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC), gangs, narcotics, etc.). • Despite significantly increased attention to human trafficking, Washington State has not seen an increase in identifiable and prosecutable human trafficking-related cases associated with forced labor and domestic servitude of foreign nationals. An analysis based on analyzing visa applications (e.g., B1, H2A, H2B) should be conducted to produce a “proactive triage” of potential victims from high-risk populations. • Despite significantly increased attention to human trafficking nationwide, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not seen a comparable increase human trafficking related criminal convictions - only 30% of human trafficking cases that ICE initiated in FY09 eventually led to a criminal conviction. A lessons-learned study should be conducted to identify the factors that are most influential to a case’s successful transition from investigation to a conviction. • An International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Working Group should be convened that builds on IACP’s pre-existing work related to combating human trafficking with a specific focus on the application of technology for training and investigations from the user perspective. Lessons learned, best practices and tools or technologies needed by local law enforcement will be the expected knowledge-product outcomes. • There is large body of knowledge and perspective on trafficking and smuggling residing in the Intelligence Community (IC) which is not widely available within law enforcement. Research should be conducted on lessons learned from the intelligence community concerning human trafficking and related networks (terrorism, smuggling, narcotics, weapons, etc.) which can then be applied to law enforcement and presented in an unclassified report. • There is no systematic means of proactively assessing the scale, movement, demand, inter-connectedness, or general operation of juvenile prostitution and Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) at a regional or larger level. A pilot sensor platform should be built to examine a significant subset of on-line prostitution sites in a regional set of participating urban areas, as well as, street-based prostitution associated with DMST. • The greatest and most immediate need that the Co-Chairs of WashACT (Seattle Police, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, ICE, and the Washington Anti-trafficking Response Network) identified was for more shelters with specialized services for victims. In order to successfully investigate and prosecute traffickers, victims must be stable and free from fear and intimidation to be effective witnesses. • There is also a lack of capacity to deal with large numbers of trafficking victims at once, should the need arise (i.e., there is no “surge capacity”).

Details: Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2011. 39p.

Source: Internet Resource: PNNL-20258: Accessed December 1, 2012 at: http://www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-20258.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-20258.pdf

Shelf Number: 127088

Keywords:
Human Sexual Exploitation
Human Smuggling
Human Trafficking (Washington State, U.S.)
Information Sharing
Inter-Agency Collaboration
Technology

Author: Gabriele, Felicia

Title: The Incidence of Human Trafficking in Ontario: Ontario Coalition Research Initiative

Summary: "The findings in this report reveal that the province of Ontario urgently needs to invest in system changes, revise its child welfare legislation, fund shelters, develop a province-wide action plan, and a provincial task force to take a proactive approach to combatting human trafficking," said AAMS president, Karlee Sapoznik. Among its important highlights, the Alliance Against Modern Slavery Ontario Coalition Research Report on The Incidence of Human Trafficking in Ontario reveals that: approximately 62.9% of victims trafficked to, through, within or from Ontario were Canadian citizens, 90% of these individuals were female, 63% of trafficked persons were between the ages of 15-24, and the most common age of trafficked persons was 17 years old at 18%. The majority of individuals were recruited through a personal contact (84.6%). Within Ontario, the General Toronto Area (GTA) was the most common destination site for human trafficking. The city of Toronto was also a significant transit point, acting as a hub for a number of human trafficking routes. Within Canada, individuals were trafficked to Ontario from the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Individuals trafficked to Ontario from foreign countries were trafficked from: Afghanistan, Antigua, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Thailand, the United States, Ukraine, and Vietnam. From Ontario individuals were trafficked to the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Quebec, and to the countries of Afghanistan, England and the United States. 96.5% of victims experienced some or multiple forms of violence. Overall, males were predominately trafficked for the purpose of forced labour. Significantly, females were more likely than males to be trafficked in every category of trafficking reported. Out of those who were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation (68.5%), one (0.7%) was male and 67.8% were female. Out of those who were trafficked for the purpose of forced labour (24.5%), 8.4% were male and 16.1% were female. Out of those trafficked for the purpose of a forced marriage (7.7%), all 7.7% were female. Additionally, out of those trafficked for the purpose of petty crime (6.3%), all 6.3% were female. In almost half of the cases (49.7%), individuals spent from less than 1 year up to 2 years in slavery. The four biggest challenges that organizations faced when assisting victims of trafficking were: Organizational funding/financial resources (46.9%), lack of housing (46.2%), providing financial support to the victim (42.7%), and finding counselling for the victim (37.1%). Other problems identified included providing medical support (21%), finding legal support (14.7%), the lack of proper risk assessments (13.3%), obtaining police support (12.6%), regressive immigration policies (11.2%), accessing Federal Government assistance (5.6%), and a lack of understanding from children's aid services (2.8%). Alarmingly, in 24.5% of cases, it was not known if follow-up attempts with the trafficked person had taken place. Out of the 2.1% of victims that pursued a civil claim in civil court, only one received a financial settlement.

Details: Toronto: Alliance Against Modern Slavery: Ontario Coalition Research Initiative, 2014. 52p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2014 at: http://www.allianceagainstmodernslavery.org/sites/default/files/AAMS-ResearchData.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.allianceagainstmodernslavery.org/sites/default/files/AAMS-ResearchData.pdf

Shelf Number: 133829

Keywords:
Forced Labor
Forced Marriage
Human Sexual Exploitation
Human Trafficking (Ontario, Canada)

Author: Robinson, Courtland

Title: Anti-Human Trafficking in Thailand: A Stakeholder Analysis of Thai Government Efforts, the U.S. TIP Report and Rankings, and Recommendations for Action

Summary: The goal of this study was to conduct an assessment of Thailand's initiatives to counter human trafficking in the last five years, through a review of documents and key informant interviews (KIIs) with a range of experts, including officials from the Royal Thai Government (RTG) and U.S. Government (USG), non - governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations (IOs), and academic institutions (ACA). This study also included an assessment of the methodology used by the U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office) to rank foreign country efforts to eliminate severe forms of trafficking in persons. The study was supported by a research grant from the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C. which commissioned the services of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, to assess Thailand's anti - trafficking activities and to assess the methodologies used in the TIP country rankings and to make recommendations for improving empirical measurement of human trafficking and documentation of anti - trafficking efforts. The specific objectives of this study were as follows: - Objective 1: To conduct a documents review of relevant research, policy and other documents related to human trafficking in Thailand, including reports by UN and international organizations, non - governmental organizations (NGOs), Thailand Government reports, and U.S. Government reports, including the annual Trafficking in Persons (T IP) Reports . - Objective 2: To conduct key informant interviews (KIIs) with individuals who are knowledgeable about Thailand's anti - trafficking initiatives and/or the TIP Reports - analysis and ranking methodologies. These included Thai and U.S. Government of ficials, international and non - governmental organizations, and academics. Each was invited to offer professional perspectives on the Thai Government's efforts to combat trafficking in persons and the TIP Report country assessments and rankings. - Objective 3 : To utilize the documents review and results of the de - identified key informant interviews to produce a report to be shared with Thai and U.S. government agencies and with the broader public to recommend improvements in Thailand's anti - trafficking initiatives as well as approaches for empirical measurement of human trafficking and documentation of anti - trafficking efforts.

Details: Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2016. 187p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 2, 2016 at: http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-refugee-and-disaster-response/Anti-Trafficking-in-Thailand-30Jun2016.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: Thailand

URL: http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/center-for-refugee-and-disaster-response/Anti-Trafficking-in-Thailand-30Jun2016.pdf

Shelf Number: 139941

Keywords:
Anti-Human Trafficking
Forced Labor
Human Sexual Exploitation
Human Trafficking