Cindy McCain and Ernie Allen spoke about human trafficking at the Walter Cronkite School on Thursday night, calling trafficking an issue with a global impact that can only be reduced with increased awareness.
“We are taking you on a journey,” McCain said. “To better understanding of human trafficking, what it is and what we are doing about it.”
Allen, the co-founder of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, defined human trafficking as “the commoditization of the human being, the use of human beings for profit.” He compared human trafficking to modern-day slavery.
“(It is) a human rights violation,” said McCain, an advocate against human-trafficking and wife of Arizona Sen. John McCain. “One of the most insulting things we can do to someone is violating someone’s basic human rights.”
Allen spoke of how he originally became invested in the anti-human-trafficking cause. He said that at the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, he and others were able to take a multidisciplinary approach to rescue children, and the media began to notice.
He also said many of the victims were children of crisis who were wiling to leave their homes.
“They are lured by other’s so called kindness, and even love,” Allen said. “But they cannot walk away. They can also be influenced through drugs and violence.”
Allen said 1.3 million children go missing for lengths of time ranging from 24 hours to six months.
“Overwhelmingly, these are American kids from American families,” Allen said. “It happens to all kinds of kids from all kinds of places.”
Lila Dhakal, a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow from Nepal, said she was shocked that human trafficking was a major issue in the U.S.
“In my country, human trafficking is a big problem,” Dhakal said. “I was surprised it was also in the United States.”
Allen said human trafficking is an organized crime.
“It is an organized crime in that there is communication between the traffickers,” Allen said. “These trafficking groups use virtual currencies to collect and give payments without going through a bank.”
But the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body, has put a stop to this by destroying money laundering, according to Allen.
“They are entrepreneurs and business men,” Allen said. “They weigh risk versus reward and historically, the risk has been minimal.”
McCain said Arizona has a harsher punishment for similar crimes, but the severity of the punishment is not always the same in other states.
“In Arizona there is prison time,” McCain said. “They lose it all, but this isn’t the same in most other states.”
Both speakers stressed the importance of raising this risk factor.
“If we begin prosecuting customers, then we’ll create real deterrence,” Allen said.
“These criminals need to be stopped and they need to be caught,” McCain said. “We are making it much more safer for the young girls to testify in court via video to allow them to testify.”
Currently, there is not a specific place for human trafficking survivors in Arizona. McCain said she would like to fix that. She also spoke of the importance of reaching out and helping these victims.
“The legislation is there,” McCain said. “We’re now working our way towards the funding.”
A topic, brought up by an audience question, was concerned about the media’s role in this.
“Media glorifies the term ‘pimp’ and other sexualization subjects,” McCain said. “I once asked a friend of mine with Google, ‘Why is it that when I google the word ‘pimp,’ I am shown glorified pictures of men in fancy suits and nice cars?’”
McCain then recalled her friend’s response that the pictures revolve around what others associate with the words being searched.
“It is not correct,” McCain said. “If pimps actually looked like that it would be a whole lot easier to find them.”
Both speakers spoke of the key concept of awareness, and educating the public on the topic.
McCain encouraged the audience to be involved with anti-human-trafficking groups and work to spread awareness.
Brenda Gifford, the founder and chairman of Run Against Trafficking Race AZ, said her organization is dedicated to spreading awareness of the issue.
“Our mission is to participate in the fundraising of organizations and resources to stop human trafficking,” she said.
McCain ended the discussion with one last message.
“If you see something, say something. You may be saving a life.”
Contact the reporter at Lauren.negrete@asu.edu
