Passing the Laws

Got this in an e-mail from Polaris Project:

Majority of States Actively Passing Laws to Combat Human Trafficking
Polaris Project 2012 Annual Ratings Show Massachusetts as Most Improved, Wyoming as Faltering

CHICAGO, IL (August 7, 2012) – More than half of states have passed laws to combat human trafficking, punish traffickers and support survivors in the past year, Polaris Project announced today during the launch of its 2012 Annual Ratings Map on state human trafficking laws. Twenty-eight states (55%) passed new laws in the past year. A law passed last November in Massachusetts catapulted the state from the worst tier to the best, earning a “Most Improved” distinction. South Carolina, West Virginia and Ohio were also applauded for their improvements. Wyoming has yet to pass any law against human trafficking, making it one of Polaris Project’s “Faltering Four” with Arkansas, Montana and South Dakota.

“Passing strong state laws is a critical step to increasing prosecutions of traffickers and providing local support for survivors,” said Mary Ellison, Polaris Project’s Director of Policy. “It is exciting to see so many state policy makers actively seeking ways to stop human trafficking, but using these new laws to save lives and hold traffickers accountable is what we are ultimately striving for. While states like Washington and Massachusetts are clearly at the top of the pack in our ratings, every state can and should do more to improve and implement their laws.” 

Polaris Project rated all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on ten categories of laws that are critical to a basic legal framework that addresses this crime and human rights abuse. Each state is placed in one of four tiers based on whether it has passed legislation in each of the ten categories. Twenty-one states are currently in the top category, Tier 1, up from 11 states in 2011. Only four are in the bottom category of Tier 4, down from nine states in 2011. One-third of states increased their rating by at least one tier. Washington had the highest point total, with 11 out of 12, while Wyoming is lowest with -2 points. Massachusetts and West Virginia particularly stand out for passing their first human trafficking laws in the past year.  

“Massachusetts has taken major steps to combat the egregious crime of human trafficking, and we are pleased that this report recognizes those efforts,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley.  “We continue to work towards a successful implementation of the new law through investigations, prosecutions, and policy change and look forward to working with stakeholders to end the exploitation of people in our Commonwealth.”

Despite improvements in laws across the country, few states passed “Safe Harbor” laws. These laws state that children under the age of 18 who are involved in commercial sex acts should not be treated as criminals for acts to which they can't legally consent, but instead should be recognized as victims of sex trafficking who are in need of services and support. Strong Safe Harbor laws grant immunity from prosecution or divert the child from juvenile delinquency proceedings, as well as offer protection and access to child welfare services. Only eight states received full credit for having a Safe Harbor law which includes provisions to protect children and also to provide services for the victim.

More than a decade after the passage of the federal anti-trafficking law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), 47 states and D.C., have sex trafficking criminal statutes, and 49 states and DC have labor trafficking criminal statutes.  Although the TVPA has been reauthorized 3 times by bipartisan majorities, Congress allowed the Act to expire in September of 2011. The current Senate bill, S. 1301, has 46 cosponsors.

“In every state in our country, as well as globally, traffickers are enslaving victims by forcing or manipulating them to work or perform commercial sex acts,” continued Ms. Ellison. “We look forward to continuing to work with state legislators to develop tools to stop this horrendous human rights abuse. And we encourage Congress to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act and other anti-trafficking bills to ensure that our federal laws stay strong.”

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline, operated by Polaris Project since December 2007, has received more than 57,000 calls from every state in the country, and connected more than 6,700 potential victims to services. Incidences of sex and labor trafficking have been reported to the hotline in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. in the last two years. Twelve states have passed laws requiring or encouraging the posting of the national human trafficking hotline.  To report a tip, connect with anti-trafficking services in your area, or request information, call The National Human Trafficking Resource Center at: 1-888-3737-888.

The state ratings map and methodology, as well as tailored state-by-state reports, are available at http://www.PolarisProject.org/2012StateRatings.

Weekly Updates

This post, clearly, is short.  It also doesn't have any reflections on anything.  All I want to do is remind my readers that, if you haven't already, you should check out the website for Polaris Project and sign up for their weekly pulse e-mails.  Honestly I haven't been reading them lately and I feel terrible about that.  Still, I know that receiving and reading weekly updates about news and work that is being done on human trafficking not only increases one's knowledge but also greatly increases one's ability to be as aware as we should be.  Being aware helps us look out for signs of trafficking around us, yes, but it also increases our chances at living a life that benefits trafficking less and less. 

So, if you haven't already, sign up for the weekly pulse e-mails.  Like Starsky, or Hutch?, from Ben Stiller's remake of Starsky and Hutch, I say, "Do it.  Do it."

Sad Machines

As I write these Project 86 posts, I am reminded of just how powerful their music and lyrics are.  While you read the lyrics to this song, perhaps you might start to realize how amazing I've been at choosing songs, because each song's lyrics have perfectly transitioned into the next (I am, indeed, very humble).  So here are the lyrics to the Project 86 song, "Sad Machines," from their album Drawing Black Lines. 

"An ageless question, universal
They're asking why
Creation destined cries flood the night in pain
They say if You are real then take it away
But man will only look to You lying on his face

Now we lie awake
With shut eyes
So to forever forget this

Their cries, this agony, injustices, suffering
Symptoms of a larger disease
Inside of me and you and me
So try to close your eyes and make it fade away
But open and you'll see
This stain is you, this stain is me

Now so many wonder why it is
So much has gone awry in all of this
And being makes you sigh that you exist
But you can't escape this
Seemingly undeserved is your lot
But generations past and you forgot
We chose to eat our fill and fell to not
This pain is here reminding us to turn and leave
To come back home

Pointing to show us the way"

Whenever I listen to this song my only reaction is, "Wow."  It's not often that a Christian band, or a Christian in general, acknowledges the pain and struggle wrapped up in the question of suffering in this world.  Suffering exists and it often seems like Christians don't acknowledge it or simply aren't aware.  We Christians are often guilty of making life with God seem happy-go-lucky and nothing can go wrong.  All the while the truth is that God's Creation cries out in pain.  And what a strange thing: the world that God has supposedly created agonizes day in and day out.  Logically, then, God doesn't exist... unless we are lying on our face and we have no way to turn except to prayer.

This is our sad fate.  We struggle in pain until we can struggle no longer and then we turn to God out of desperation.  But the title of the song is so appropriate.  We've turned ourselves into sad machines.  As long as we are eating our fill of the symptoms of a larger disease we are nothing but machines of this world that we humans have created, and it is a world of great suffering because we become the stain of the world.  We sad machines are the stain of the world. 

We wonder why there is so much suffering in the world, we wonder why there are 27 million slaves in the world today.  How could God let that happen?  How could people be so evil as to create such a large underground slave system?  How could our government and other governments allow such a thing?  The truth is that you and I are the reason.  You and I feel the pain but we also create the pain, our own pain and the insufferable pain of others.  Part of our sad machine existence is the refusal to admit the part that we play and instead sit around complaining about the role others have played.  It's always someone else's fault that so much pain exists, so much slavery exists.  True, it is someone else's fault, but it's also the fault of you and me.

The pain should point us back to God instead of away from God.  Now, I'm not saying that we should all become believers because that's our only hope.  You can if you want and I would rejoice with you, but the God that we believe in is a God of liberation and love.  If you choose not to believe in God, at least believe in liberation and love.  The pain that you and millions of others feel should point us to the way of liberation and love.  We have tried living as sad machines and it only leads to more sadness.  Now with our faces on the ground we have no choice but to take a different path.

It's up to you and me, folks.  You and I are the stain of this world.  So you and I must choose a different path.  There is no more time for blaming and complaining and wondering.  You and I must do the liberating and the loving, you and I must do the work of justice and hope.  Let's not wait for others to do something.  It's up to you and me. 

And trust me, you are a powerful voice.  Flood your political representatives with letters and signatures, organize rallies, raise funds for organizations like Polaris Project.  It's up to you and me, and we are powerful.

Donations

Many people have asked me how to send in checks to Polaris Project that will go toward my effort to raise $5,000.00 for human trafficking.  First of all, the fundraising website with Polaris Project can be found on the left-hand side of this website.  Click on it and you can donate by credit card to Polaris Project.

If you really really want to write a check, the information can also be found on the left-hand side of this homepage.  I will set up a separate page for fundraising information so that future questioners will have their answers readily available. 

Thank you to everyone who has already donated or has asked me how to make a donation!