Human trafficking remains unrecognized, deserves consideration

Each day one of the most underreported and hideous crimes go largely unpublicized . 

Human trafficking of girls is a tragic act that hardly receives publicity and what is more, not nearly enough has been done to curb it.

Barbara Amaya, now a spokeswoman in the fight to make people aware of human trafficking, ran away from home multiple times before her 12th birthday, until a young couple found her on the streets of Washington, D.C.

They brought her to their home, “groomed” her — a process of “breaking-down” a girl from healthy adolescent sexual boundaries to commercial sex with strangers   — and took her out with them. By the time she turned 12, her pimp had already set up several clients in D.C. for Amaya.

“I grew up being trafficked. I grew up in the streets. Like a wild animal,” Amaya said in an interview with The Pitt News.

One of Amaya’s earliest memories is of being sold from one pimp in D.C. to another in New York City.

“I remember watching the money change hands,” she said. “I was sold like a piece of furniture in our nation’s capital. I was 12 and nobody did anything to stop it.”

Amaya continued.

“I’ll never forget the times [my pimp] beat me incessantly with coat hangers. Blood soaked my shirt. I don’t like to tell too much because it becomes voyeuristic, but I was lucky to survive,” she said.

Amaya, now in her 60s, has become a symbol and spokeswoman on the subject of human trafficking, educating the public about ways to stunt its disgusting growth.

The lack of awareness, unfortunately, makes it seem as though no change is in sight. With more education and awareness, this heinous crime can be brought to light and effective change and prevention can occur.

Shockingly, there are more people subjected to slavery today than the total number of people taken from Africa to America in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. 

Human trafficking, commonly divided into subcategories of sex trafficking and labor trafficking, is the third-largest and fastest-growing criminal industry in the world, according to the Southwestern Pennsylvania Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition in Pittsburgh. 

The United Nations and U.S. Department of State estimated that in 2011, the number of people being trafficked worldwide was more than 20.9 million. Other sources, such as End Human Trafficking Now, based in Switzerland, estimate the number to be more than 29 million.

The fact that the numbers fluctuate so drastically is nothing to be surprised about, unfortunately.

Kelly Kochamba, an FBI spokeswoman in Pittsburgh, agreed.

“It is difficult to provide concrete local statistics because somebody might be picked up in one place and trafficked elsewhere. It also has become increasingly more difficult with the development of online human trafficking,” Kochamba said.

Last February, WTAE-TV Pittsburgh reported on an investigation that exposed sex trafficking in an undisclosed hotel in Oakland, the heart of where most of the Pitt community resides. In it, a 37-year-old male was charging $300 a turn for customers to use a 15-year-old girl as a sexual object. 

The Polaris Project, a nonprofit company based in Washington, D.C., that works to combat modern-day slavery, created a ranking system for states fighting human trafficking. Pennsylvania ranked in the middle of the road on efforts to fight human trafficking. 

Amaya has spoken about her experiences locally, and said she “just would like people to start realizing and seeing that it does happen here.” 

There are a few components, aside from the jurisdiction a given pimp has, that pose as barriers for women wanting to escape. Apart from said pimp, who is typically older than the woman and often casts himself as a loving boyfriend, is the notion of fear many women have in the given situation. The denial most women hold about being victims is just as debilitating.

Drug addiction also furthers trafficking’s suffocating reach. Many times, women are sedated during intercourse with clients, creating a lethal dependency upon substances such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines.

Amaya, previously addicted to heroin while being trafficked, said she was 5-foot-9 and maybe 90 pounds at her lowest point during her experience with drugs and trafficking.

“I have been raped more times than I can remember,” she said.

At 19, Amaya ran away and hid from her pimp countless times. She did so to both save money for her drugs and to escape his wrath. He always came after her, beat her relentlessly and dragged her back. The last time, he never came for her. Amaya found out years later that he had been arrested on drug charges and died in jail.

Amaya now has a daughter with her former husband, has written a book and spends her time battling human trafficking. Amaya went public with her story after realizing she was a victim of human trafficking while watching a story about it on the local news. She had no idea that the crimes committed against her constituted as human trafficking largely because of the brainwashing effects the acts had upon her as a victim.

But Amaya sees a purpose in the tragedy.

“I believe I went through what I did so I can do what I do now,” she said.

Most victims are not as lucky as Amaya. While she got out by chance, many women don’t know there is help for them. They have access to safe houses, hotlines, clothing, hygiene products and communication devices to assimilate into everyday life through local coalitions and programs. 

Mary Burke, director of the doctoral program in counseling psychology at Carlow University and executive director of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition, said, “The effectiveness of [the coalition] is it gives the community one place to send their resources and the victims one known place to turn.”

According to the FBI, a common misconception surrounding sex trafficking is it only affects a specific demographic of lower-class women from broken homes. Most people believe that pimps only prey on young girls who come from abusive homes, are runaways and are highly vulnerable. While this demographic is often a main target, middle- to upper- class young girls are certainly not immune. 

Girls are typically trafficked as young as 12 years old and, on some occasions, even younger. Amaya said these girls are coerced with threats, empty promises and physical and emotional abuse, which leads to intense psychological and physical trauma. 

“It is manipulation and preying on a population that is already vulnerable,” said Amaya.

Amaya said that trafficking is a fast-growing issue “because people are being viewed as commodities that can be sold and used over and over.”

But the government is taking steps to combat the issue. FBI headquarters has made it a stronger priority in the next fiscal year than in the past, and human trafficking is now its own entity, whereas, previously it existed as a subsection of civil rights violations, according to Kochamba.

While legal reform is the first step toward change, huge strides cannot be taken without societal transformation. This begins with the basic awareness and recognition that human trafficking is a significant problem in all cities and suburbs.

Amaya agrees. 

“As a survivor and an educator, I believe that nothing else will happen if there is not first awareness,” she said.

Write Julia at jbc30@pitt.edu.