January is National Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month. As defined by the Office for Victims of Crime, human trafficking is a form of “modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to control victims for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her/their will.” Human trafficking disproportionately impacts our Native communities and intersects with sexual violence; the FBI cites that 40 percent of sex trafficking survivors are Native, yet Native women represent 10 percent or less of the general population.
Sexual violence is used as a method of coercion or force to bring people into trafficking or to keep them in a trafficking situation. According to the Garden of Truth, a foundational study done by MIWSAC on prostitution and trafficking in Minnesota, 79% of the women interviewed had been sexually abused as children by an average of 4 perpetrators and 92% had been raped while being trafficked/ “in prostitution.” A history of sexual violence is often on lists of what makes people vulnerable to trafficking. There are many other ways that these forms of violence intersect. Yet, referencing the Garden of Truth again, only 33% of people had received sexual assault services. In the midst of the tangible, legal, and other needs, the distinct and important focus on sexual violence is deprioritized when providing support to those who have been trafficked.
Awareness around the prevalence of trafficking within our communities is integral to preventing human trafficking. Learn more about trauma-informed crisis responses for victims of trafficking, so that survivors feel more comfortable disclosing and have information needed to document or safety plan if they are being trafficked. Our goal is to support communities in bringing education, working to prevent, and strengthening responses to all forms of intersecting violence. We also recognize that while distinct services are important, advocates and others need to be informed on all forms of violence to best support survivors. Our lives are not segmented out and the complex and compounding impacts of violence and trauma live out in each survivor in different ways, as well as the different ways people have learned to cope and heal from the violence.