A WORD FROM OUR FOUNDER & PRESIDENT, COURTNEY ALBERT
It’s hard to believe that we are halfway through 2024 already. Happy Summer! GWTF continues to push forward with our robust agenda of victim support, training facilitation, outreach, and collaborative efforts with taskforces and coalitions. A personal highlight for me was the opportunity to present on human trafficking and its intersection with intimate partner violence at the 2024 End Violence Against Women International Conference in San Diego. We have much to be proud of and are excited for our upcoming opportunities to show leadership in the field of anti-trafficking work.
RAPID RESPONSE SUPPORT SYSTEM (RRSS)
According to the United States National Institute of Justice, human trafficking for criminal exploitation, or forced criminality, is a type of trafficking in which the victim is exploited by being forced or coerced to engage in illegal activities, such as street crime, begging, or drug trafficking. Globally, this form of trafficking is being more readily recognized, and efforts are being made to try to minimize prosecuting these survivors. The three cases RRSS engaged with this past quarter were all adult females with a variety of victimizations, but all three were also subjected to forced criminality.
TRAININGS
Newport, Vermont Multi-disciplinary Team
Edith’s Vermont Training and Outreach Committee sponsored a two-part robust multidisciplinary team training in Newport in April. The morning two-hour session introduced human trafficking, context, and case studies. The afternoon three-and-a-half-hour session delves deeper into human trafficking, Vermont case studies, the intricacies of solidifying a multidisciplinary team, and lots of questions and discussion.
End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI) Conference 2024
In April, our Founder and President, Courtney Albert, partnered with David Ryan, Chief (Ret.) Town of Poughkeepsie Police and Head of the Westchester County Taskforce to present at the End Violence Against Women International 2024 Conference. They facilitated an impactful and important training, “When Crimes Converge: At the Intersection of Human Trafficking and Intimate Partner Violence”
The training focused on the importance of understanding that intimate partner violence and human trafficking are crimes and human rights violations that need and deserve collaborative responses from law enforcement and advocacy. By analyzing the intersections of intimate partner violence and human trafficking, we observe how complex patterns of abusive behavior and coercive control can create an environment that enables and perpetuates violence. Offenders of intimate partner violence and human trafficking crimes often use the same tactics to groom and control victims, including psychological manipulation, physical abuse, financial control, substance abuse, coercion, and sexual violence. During the presentation, they shared their vast expertise, long-standing dedication, and first-hand knowledge to outline the fundamentals of these overlapping crimes. They underscored the importance of law enforcement and advocates partnering at the earliest stages and spotlighted how to serve victims and survivors effectively, compassionately, and holistically. The goal of the training was to enable participants to:
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Define human trafficking and intimate partner violence and recognize how these crimes can intersect.
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Identify the concepts of trauma, psychological coercion, and other elements that impact victims and contribute to the complexity of victim identification, interviewing, and recovery.
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Describe the importance of law enforcement working with service providers to achieve success in the investigation of these overlapping crimes.
PROJECT UPDATES
Vermont Council on World Affairs Collaboration
In May and June, Edith had round table discussions with three different delegations that came to Vermont through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, hosted by the Vermont Council on World Affairs. The professionals that came to participate all had some experience in anti-trafficking work and included law enforcement, prosecutors, social services directors, and government agency directors. Some of the countries they represented were Madagascar, Senegal, the Republic of the Congo, Comoros, The Gambia, and Turkmenistan. The impetus for them to meet with us is for them to learn how we go about our work here so they may gain perspective and knowledge and take some concepts and techniques back to their own work. Several great connections were made, and there are possibilities to consult with some of them more in the future.
Partnership with Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition (BAATC)
We continue to value the work we do with BAATC highly. This past quarter, we laid a lot of groundwork to hold information sessions on World Day Against Trafficking this July, as well as participate in airport personnel training and conferences this Fall. Of particular note is the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network conference in San Antonio. We also remain dedicated to making headway in the messaging and signage arena. H.R. 7181 Human Trafficking Protection Act of 2022 passed in December 2022, and the national human trafficking hotline number must be posted in every aircraft, airport, buses, and bus stations, and passenger trains, and stations. It is direly important to make sure financial resources are being dedicated to signage that is victim-centered, trauma-informed, non-sensationalized, and also localized, and we are helping many organizations to ensure they are.
Red Sand Project Intern Support
Divya Nainani is a Rutgers University student majoring in Public Health. The Red Sand Project team graciously asked us if we needed any projects worked on since they know one of our focusses is in healthcare. Divya is working to edit our simulation laboratory training videos so we will be able to use them more when we do shorter training sessions. She is also going to assist in researching and updating the human trafficking policy and procedure for the University of Vermont Medical Center.
The Freedom Network
The conference in April in Salt Lake City was amazing – Beyond the Fundamentals, a specialized approach to anti-trafficking work. Edith particularly enjoyed the Labor Trafficking and Forced Criminality session, the Potential Harm of Awareness Training and the Real Harm of Misidentification session, and Climate & Labor – the human cost of extraction session. It was wonderful to see so many colleagues in person, have great discussions, and some fun socializing and networking. The member meeting at the end of the conference was very engaging as well. We have found a lot of value in being a member of and participating in the Freedom Network these past thirteen years!
Thank you for keeping current with our anti-trafficking work and for supporting Give Way to Freedom! Please consider a donation—click here.