Human Trafficking Unmasked: Post-Pandemic Detection and Deliverance.

• Author: Patrick, Wendy L.

With communities unmasked and open for business, concerned citizens are ready to perceive and recognize the new "face" of human trafficking. But in some cases and in some communities, accomplishing that goal may be easier said than done. Post-pandemic trafficking red flags are indeed discernable, assuming people know what to look for, and where to look.

Human trafficking is widely recognized as a form of modern-day slavery where perpetrators profit from the control and exploitation of men, women and children through force, fraud, or coercion, for sex, labor, or sometimes both. Constituting a crime under U.S. federal law as well as state laws, Human Trafficking is the second most profitable criminal industry behind the drug trade, estimated at billions annually in the U.S. and worldwide.

Recognized as the biggest human rights violation of our time, human trafficking continues to fly under the radar, constituting an invisible pandemic without any known cure. Thankfully, there are many organizations that exist to combat trafficking on every level, and survivor-oriented organizations to provide trauma-informed care for the victims. And that care looks different post-pandemic.

POST-PANDEMIC TRAFFICKING UNMASKED

I recently presented on human trafficking at the International Conference on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT) in Honolulu, Hawaii. I have presented the same subject at this conference in the past, but for both survivors and the affected communities, things have changed. The pandemic pause created a different dynamic between traffickers and victims, some of whom were quarantined together, resulting in heighted levels of codependence and coercion.Victims had far less options to seek help, access support and services, and for some, at least at the beginning of lockdown restrictions, found themselves faced with the untenable choice of facing violence or the virus.

Now, with health restrictions lifted and the world open for business, the unmasked "face" of human trafficking looks different, as does our approach to detection and prevention. Community members now have more opportunity to personally observe emotionally coercive interpersonal dynamics displayed between a couple in public, which, depending on other factors, might be evidence of sex or labor trafficking. Similarly, some victims have more opportunity to seek support and assistance. Complicating the equation, however, is the fact that although concerned citizens may desire to assist...