HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
side from an episode of Law
and Order: SVU or a report on
Dateline, do you know much
about human trafficking? It is a topic
most people know little about, yet its
victims number 12.3 million around the
world. That's 12.3 million adults and chil-
dren in forced labor, bonded labor and
forced prostitution.
Human trafficking is modern-day
slavery that ignores basic human rights
and takes advantage of innocent people.
Victims often endure rape, emotional and
physical abuse and threats to themselves
and family. Some face death.
Perpetrators go after the most vulner-
able, often children and young women.
They lure their victims with creativity
and guile, often guaranteeing a better life
through marriage, work or educational
channels.
Human trafficking is so massive that it
rivals arms dealing as the second largest
criminal industry in the world — and
the fastest growing, according to the
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. The largest is the illegal sale of
drugs.
"If you have 100 pounds of cocaine,
you will be jailed longer than if you have
a 100-pound person enslaved to you','
Bridgette Carr said in an article last fall.
Carr is a University of Michigan law pro-
fessor who directs the Human Trafficking
Clinic at U-M's Law School, the only such
law school clinic in the country.
Carr will be the keynote speaker at
a community advocacy forum called
"Human Trafficking: Why We Must Know
and Why We Must Care" on April 14 at
the Max M. Fisher Federation Building in
Bloomfield Township.
The event is a first-time collaboration
for the Jewish Community Relations
Council, Jewish Coalition Against
Domestic Abuse, National Council
of Jewish Women, Jewish Women's
Foundation and the Chaldean
Federation of America.
"When most members of the
Jewish community hear the words
`human trafficking, their first
thought might be, 'That is not a
Jewish issue," said Ellen Yashinsky
Chute, chief outreach officer
for Jewish Family Service. "The
response is similar to ones we have
heard about many issues over the
years, like domestic abuse, substance
abuse and child sexual abuse.
"Unfortunately, we have learned
that while we are a strong, united and
caring community, we are not immune
to these social concerns. Prevention is
always the best strategy. Just as with child
sexual abuse, we teach our children about
good touch and bad touch. We must
understand the dangers of human traf-
ficking in order to ensure the safety of
our teens and young adults."
The idea of forcing people to work
Bridgette Carr heads U-M Law School's
Human Trafficking Clinic
TRAFFICKING
as slaves or in the sex trade may seem
foreign, like something that only happens
in Africa, East Asia or Eastern Europe, yet
human trafficking happens everywhere,
including Michigan and Detroit.
Children are being sold for sex in our
own backyard, says Lori Kitchen of the
Michigan Women's Foundation (MIWF)
based in Grosse Pointe Farms. MIWF
research shows that each month 117-159
girls are being sexually exploited in the
state via the Internet and escort services.
And, according to the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children,
Michigan ranks 13th in the country
for the number of sex traffic vic-
tims.
Chute says JFS has provided
services to a young Jewish
woman forced into sexual
servitude. She nows lives else-
where. And in a high-profile
federal case, Ukrainian
Veniamin Gonikman,
accused of forcing Eastern
European women to
work as exotic dancers in
Detroit clubs, awaits trial
in Detroit on charges of
human trafficking, forced
labor and other crimes.
Helen Katz, director of the
Jewish Women's Foundation, said a
woman came to register for the upcom-
ing forum last week and told her of
a foiled abduction of a 13-year-old
friend of her sister's at Fairlane Mall