Brief summary of presentation of information made

Intercepting Demand is often part of trafficking that is not focused on

Always three players

• Trafficked person
• Purchaser
• Trafficker

Without the purchaser there is no demand

Trafficking is a 150 billion USD industry – set to outpace the drugs and arms trade in the world. Technology is enabling this to increase vastly and there are currently 45 million are enslaved and being sold worldwide. In order to tackle this problem there needs to be a different focus. Need to think about human trafficking the way traffickers do. This about this; Trafficking humans – there is no ‘evidence’ (such as drugs or weapons hidden in the back of a car) and people can be sold time and time again making the business highly profitable.

20% of men have bought sex – we need a solution that is bigger than the problem

CEASE is an AHT network. Cities empowered against sexual exploitation

• Collaboration
• Intercepting demand
• Reportjohn app
• info@heatwatch.org
• Traffic cam (database of hotel room doors to help locate children that are being trafficked

Case study: Iceland

Iceland decimalized prostituted person, but criminalized the buyer. At first this was not considered to be a good way of tackling the problem by the local law enforcement as it was thought to be too difficult to police. Out of this grew the Big Sister movement which was set up as a group of volunteers to confront and expose buyers of sex who were now breaking the law  

Best practice from THE BIG SISTER movement in Iceland

• Average everyday people like me and you can make a difference
• It has to be fun and generate positive emotion that is inclusive
• It has to be funny (to give them fuel to keep going and to create a non shaming pattern to interrupt demand) Humor heals and innovates
• Even small wins must be celebrated every step of the way
• The volunteers have to remain anonymous (except the main leader)
• They interrupt demand  

The Epik Project (USA)

This project is about a ‘bunch of guys’ who took it on themselves to confront the men who were paying for sex. They set up ‘fake’ adverts which men rang and then the volunteers would establish a point of contact with them and engage them in dialog. They found that they were confronting the same guys time and time again and through these contacts identified those that were the most violent, passing this information onto police authorities

The project trains the volunteers and is careful about the language they use. They are not about shaming the individual because ‘at the point of purchase grace is more powerful than shame’

The smart phone in your pocket are the brothels of today! They are the gateway to modern day slavery, but technology can also be used to combat the problem

What was of particular significance to share with The Salvation Army globally?

Grace is more powerful than shame! This is a valuable key principle when dealing with people who the rest of society shuns. The Army can reach out in love, which is very much in line with its mission of serving all without discrimination. 

Tags: United Nations, SDG16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, SDG5: Gender Equality