On Sunday, March 29th, members of the Brooklyn Humanist Community assembled at Michael and Antoinette's household to hear Rachelle Suissa, Vice President of Brooklyn/Queens NOW, speak on "Sex Trafficking of Women and Children." Ms. Suissa filled us in on the enormity of the problem and the legislation that has been passed on various levels to combat this crime. Many of the young women who are brought into the U.S. on false promises and then forced into prostitution are minors according to our laws, so sex trafficking in women is very often sex trafficking in children as well.
Ms. Suissa explained that it is very hard to catch the sex traffickers, who are well organized and able to vanish at short notice. Instead, it is often the victims of sex trafficking who end up being arrested for prostitution. Many are in the U.S. without proper documentation, and face possible deportation. Often these young women and girls do not speak English, and have not been paid, so that they lack even the resources to go home.
Despite the legislation that has been passed, in New York only $450,000 has been allocated to deal with this problem. Ms. Suissa pointed out the New York City spends more than that just cleaning up after a heavy snowfall. Between insufficient funding and unfortunately, some police corruption, it is very difficult to eradicate sex trafficking, but we can continue to press for better legislation and more funding to deal with this problem.
We discussed the possibility of a joint program on the topic with Brooklyn/Queens NOW, possibly a film screening on the subject in order to raise public awareness.
Our thanks to Antoinette and Michael for hosting this event, to Constance for inviting the speaker and providing her with transportation, and most especially to Rachelle Suissa for her excellent presentation of a thorny and heartbreaking issue.
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