Informative Resources Guide
Resources pieced together by Gracie Huffman, VP of Marketing Strategy and provided by Mary Cochenour, VP of Cause Activation.
This blog includes links to organizations, articles, movies/documentaries, podcasts, and books that are informative about and explore aspects of human trafficking and will be updated throughout the year.
Breaking the Shackles’ Informative Resources Guide.
Organizations:
Polaris:
“Founded in 2002, Polaris is named for the North Star, which people held in slavery in the United States used as a guide to navigate their way to freedom. Today we are filling in the roadmap for that journey and lighting the path ahead.”
Homepage: https://polarisproject.org/
PROTECT: Prevention Organized To Educate Children on Trafficking
“The focus of the program is not only to educate adults and children about human trafficking, but empower them to identify signs of trauma as a means of preventing exploitation. Trauma and trafficking are inherently connected, and in order for us to really understand how this impacts our community we must all come together to learn more about it. The more we know, the more we can keep ourselves and others safe.”
Homepage: https://protectnow.org/
Articles:
1. Polaris: Recognizing Human Trafficking (also on Breaking the Shackles linktree)
https://polarisproject.org/recognizing-human-trafficking/
Summary: Chances are there is going to be nothing visible that you can see from across the room, or even from up close, that has the ability to alert you that a stranger is a victim of human trafficking. This page takes you through general signs to understand how to recognizewho is most vulnerable, how traffickers lure people in, recognizing labor trafficking, and recognizing sex trafficking.
2. Polaris: Crisis in Human Trafficking During the Pandemic, A Snapshot: April 2020 https://polarisproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Crisis-in-Human-Trafficking-During-the-Pandemic.pdf
Summary: Over the last few months, Polaris has been carefully tracking the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on victims and survivors of sex and labor trafficking. When comparing post-shelter-in-place time with pre-shelter-in-place time in 2019 and 2020, the number of crisis trafficking situations increased by more than 40 percent - from approximately 60 in a 30-day period to 90.
Housing insecurity is a leading indicator of vulnerability to human trafficking. Policies that help people stay in their homes or get access to housing will help to prevent trafficking. In the medium to longer term, efforts to address the economic impacts of COVID-19 should prioritize housing for vulnerable individuals, families and communities - not only those who are currently homeless, but also those on the precipice of becoming homeless.
3. Love 146: Lets talk about race and human trafficking (also on Breaking the Shackles linktree)
https://love146.org/lets-talk-about-race-and-human-trafficking/
Summary: Due to the disproportionate number of children of color who are trafficked each year, human trafficking is a racial justice issue. This page also includes a survivor’s account of how race played a role in their human trafficking victimization.
“The racialized sexual exploitation of people of color that developed during slavery and colonization impacts cultural expectations and beliefs about the availability and use of children of color for commercial sex today.”
4. PROTECT: Human Trafficking Reporting Protocols https://protectnow.org/human-trafficking-reporting-protocols/
This site outlines how to identify and report human trafficking, and how to create a reporting protocol in place if your school doesn’t have one.
Movies/documentaries:
https://protectnow.org/resources/movies/
Listed below are free documentaries on YouTube, but the website contains documentaries with small cost options as well as some on Netflix, Amazon and other paid prescription websites. Feel free to open on your laptop and follow the hyperlinks.
1. Sex Trafficking (2017) – free on YouTube:takes a look at modern slavery across the world, shot in 19 countries.
2. Children of the Sex Trade (2016) – free on YouTube: shows a grueling story, where previous victims of trafficking commit their lives to saving more victims of the Filipino sex trade.
3. Children For Sale: The Fight to End Human Trafficking (2015) – free on YouTube:explores the sex trade, exposing how victims are lured into exploitation through romantic promises and abuse.
4. Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (2011) – free on YouTube: takes on human trafficking around the world, with perspectives from all facets of the child sex trafficking industry.
10 Movies About Human Trafficking: https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/10-movies-about-human-trafficking/
This hyperlink includes movie suggestions with linked trailers and a short synopsis for each. Here are the ones that stuck out.
1. Tricked (2013) follows a Denver vice squad as they rescue survivors and track down traffickers.
2. The Storm Makers (2014): Focusing on Cambodia’s industry, this film pulls back the curtain on the “storm makers,” or human traffickers. The Storm Makers follows the lives of two traffickers, the head of an agency, and a recruiter.
3. The Whistleblower (2010) follows Kathryn Bolkovac who discovered a sex trafficking ring run and when she tried to take action, she was fired. This film educates the viewer on how corruption affects attempts to deal with human trafficking.
4. Sex Trafficking in America (2019) follows a Phoenix-based police unit dedicated to stopping sex trafficking and relates a survivor’s story. Viewers can watch the documentary for free on the PBS Frontline website.
5. The Abolitionists (2016): In 2013, Special Agent Tim Ballard resigned from Homeland Security, believing he could do more to fight child sex trafficking victims apart from the agency. The Abolitionists centers on an undercover sting operation in Colombia.
6. I am Jane Doe (2017) focuses on the legal suits brought against Backpage.com, a classified ad website notorious for sex trafficking.
7. Girl Model (2011): This documentary explores the disturbing relationship between Siberia and Japan. Though not legally human trafficking, the practices of the industry and modeling agent are right on the doorstep.
8. Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids (2004): Documentary photographer Zana Briski went to Calcutta and made the sex workers there a deal. In exchange for portraits, she would teach their kids some photography skills. They could document their lives.
Podcasts:
10 Podcasts to keep you up to Date on Human Trafficking: https://encstophumantrafficking.org/10-podcasts-human-trafficking/
1. Ending Human Trafficking Podcastby Sandra Morgan & Dave Stachowiak
2. In Plain Sight Podcast to End Human Traffickingby David Trotter
3. Speaker for the Living 'Human Trafficking' Podcastby Seth Daire
4. Getting to the Truth: Common Misconceptions about Human Trafficking
5. StandUp and SpeakUp by Tokii
6. Ending Human Trafficking Locally and GloballyBy The U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s End Trafficking project
7. Global News PodcastBy BBC World Service: Guilty verdicts in Thailand human trafficking trial
8. Virtue in the Wasteland Podcast by Dr. Jeff Mallinson and Dr. Dan van Voorhis
9. “Human trafficking is all around you. This is how it works” by Noy Thrupkaew
10. Unconcluded: What happened to Jennifer Kesse?
Grab and Go: Podcasts about Human Trafficking: https://www.dressember.org/blog/podcasts
This link contains some repeats with the first link, but non-repeats include:
1. The New Activist, presented by International Justice Mission(IJM) and the RELEVANT Podcast Network.
2. National Public Radio (NPR): Human trafficking in the news
“Survivors Present Recommendations On How To End Human Trafficking” is a less than five-minute report
“The Trucking Industry: A Focus On Smuggling And Human Trafficking” is a brief news report
“Sex Trafficking In Small Towns: ‘It Happens Virtually Anywhere’” is a five-minute news report
Books:
5 Human Trafficking Books Everybody Should Read: https://www.humanrightscareers.com/magazine/human-trafficking-books/
Link contains a short summary and linked bookstore is ran by Human Rights Careers on article to be able to purchase the books!
1. Human Trafficking Around the World: Hidden in Plain Sight, by Stephanie Hepburn and Rita Simon, Published in 2013
2. The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter, Published in 2009
3. Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale: A Memoir by Rachel Lloyd, Published in 2012
4. Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales, Published in 2012
5. Sold by Patricia McCormick, Published in 2006. (Only fiction book on the list)