This presentation is about a successful program, which reaches students between ages 8 and 18 in summer camps and after school programs. It involves students in learning about how they may become victims of trafficking and how they can avoid it as well. It also shows how everyone is complicit in labor trafficking by purchasing products made by enslaved people. It teaches students how to avoid situations which may lead to becoming entrapped in sex or labor trafficking. It then shows them how art has been an agent of social change for centuries and how they can collaboratively work with other students to produce art with a message, which will then be exhibited to teach others. The presentation will show participants how they can use or adapt the program in their own communities.

Presentation Objectives:

·         Teach participants how to adapt this program for their use

·         Explain how the different parts of this program work together

·         Discuss how collaboration and teamwork can reinforce information presented

·         Encourage participants to appreciate the confidence building aspect of the program as part of the prevention effect

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The term child soldier conjures up images of a war-torn, Sub-Saharan African child holding a battle-worn rifle, staring into the distance of an uncertain future. Their story is well known: a paramilitary organization entered an area and forcibly recruited children to engage in conflict—protecting arms, drugs, or “turf”. Through the marketing of the child soldier story and its emotional response, the international community has been moved to action through hosting awareness raising campaigns, generating mass donations for care, and establishing recovery and rehabilitation programs. There is no doubt that the international child soldier is viewed as a victim and is treated accordingly. But, what constitutes a child soldier and does national and international policy assign the label unfairly? Many domestic (North American) child gang members meet the national and international definition of child soldier, having been forcibly recruited to engage in conflict. Domestic gang members, however, are generally viewed as perpetrators of crime whereas international child soldiers are almost exclusively seen as victims of crime. This presentation argues that issues of race, borders, poverty, ethnicity, agency, American superiority, and prison industry profit have intentionally co-opted the definition of child soldier away from domestic child gang members and that a reconceptualization is necessary in order to address the issue.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Describe what constitutes a child soldier

·       Explain how domestic gang members are child soldiers

·       Discuss the factors that lead society away from viewing domestic gang members

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Human trafficking survivors are constantly reminded of their lived experience. They struggle with PTSD, Stockholm Syndrome, DID, nightmares, flashbacks, and memory loss. During their own trauma recovery, they fight against themselves to appear ‘normal’ and to survive in this alternate universe. Often the only help for them is to prescribe medication, psychotherapy, support groups, counseling, etc. All of these, and many other supportive services and resources, are needed; however, we are missing one of their most valuable resources: their bodies. Service providers can teach them to manage their stress and trauma episodes by regulating their own bodies response to these incidents.

Building personal resilience combines personal coaching or mentoring with scientifically validated tools to help individuals self-regulate responses to stress and build resilience. Often when a survivor has a nightmare, they wake up in a room or home with others that have no idea of how to help them. Developing and building personal resilience will result in mental clarity and focus, improved relationships, and an overall sense of well-being. During the presentation, a technique will be shared that will have immediate results. The effects of this presentation are not limited to survivors, but can be applied to anyone including individuals providing services for survivors. Introducing this valuable resource will help survivors continue to regain their sense of self and position them to help others safely.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Discuss the trauma victims of human trafficking can experience and the importance of trauma recovery

·       Share techniques to help survivors cope with trauma

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You’re invited to “pack a bag and grab that passport” as you embark on a multimedia journey around the globe with Women At Risk, International. This Michigan based, nonprofit organization was established to create circles of protection around at-risk women and children. Through culturally sensitive, value-added intervention projects and partnerships, they provide safe places to heal from abuse, trafficking, exploitation, and more. Each month, additional projects and partnerships are formed, increasing their ability to offer the rescued and at-risk a "hand-up" instead of a handout. You will experience some of their curative, supportive, and preventative programs that reach over 40 countries. Because this crime is targeting minors, you will be introduced to the highly successful youth prevention program, Warning Lights. This program (in its various forms) is making its way across the nation. It is fighting to protect our kids, teens, and young adults from the disguised lures of human trafficking. You will hear directly from “Jenn At War”, the author and program director, on how Warning Lights is being received by audiences, voted into school curriculums, and continually utilized by communities to create circles of protection for families. This emotional and memorable voyage will broaden your awareness, refuel your compassion for others, and reward you with new ways that you too can get involved.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Describe the Women At Risk, International and Warning Lights programs

·       Discuss how these programs are being utilized around the world

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With respect to human trafficking, Minnesota has spent a decade building and refining its response to sex trafficking, but its response to labor trafficking is less developed. This presentation will examine the challenges and new opportunities for prosecuting labor trafficking and effectively protecting victims in Minnesota. The workshop will present findings from The Advocates’ recent report, Asking the Rights Questions: A Human Rights Approach to Ending Trafficking and Exploitation in the Workplace, which illuminates the current state of labor trafficking prosecutions in Minnesota and its impact on victims. The presenters will also draw on several recent cases from the Washington County Human Trafficking Unit to provide examples of advances in prosecuting labor trafficking under Minnesota law and analyze ways to further improve victim protection. Finally, the presentation will look at a new initiative by the Minnesota Department of Health to improve outcomes for child victims of sex and labor trafficking and how it will impact the investigation and prosecution of labor trafficking.
Presentation Objectives:

• Explain where Minnesota currently stands in terms of labor trafficking awareness, victim response, and prosecution.
• Explore recent labor trafficking cases for possible ways to expand Minnesota’s approach to labor trafficking and better protect victims.
• Discuss a new initiative to improve outcomes for child victims of sex and labor trafficking and its potential impact on prosecutions.

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In 2014 The City of Edmonton was exploring changes to our municipal regulatory framework impacting Body Rub Centres as well as Escorts through the Body Rub Centre Task Force. This group consisted of law enforcement, social service providers, government officials, sex workers, and body rub centre owners. At this same time, the federal laws changed in Canada to decriminalize the selling of one’s own sexual services and re-focus enforcement on protecting victims of trafficking and exploitation, vulnerable communities, and hold buyers and traffickers to a higher account.

This session will explore how these criminal changes have impacted the work within our bylaws, the addition of another bylaw officer as well as a social worker to our City’s team and some of the work that this team is involved in, and the development of software, coined “Exposure”, which we are currently using to automate our online enforcement and outreach efforts.

Presentation Objectives:

·       Basic overview of the recent changes to Canadian criminal law

·       The City of Edmonton Body Rub Centre Task Force and recommendations to City Council

·       Edmonton’s bylaws and municipal efforts to make the licensed adult services industry safer for workers

·       The current use, and potential future uses, of our locally developed online adult listing software

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At the conference, the presenters will explain the main results of the Spanish research project, Life trajectories that move away or bring closer to the trafficking processes of sexual exploitation (2013-2015). This project was funded by the Spanish Women’s Institute, Ministry of Health, and Social Services and Equality, and the main researcher was Dr. Lidia Puigvert. This project was developed at CREA Research Center at the University of Barcelona. Drawing on CREA’s previous work and scientific contributions on breaking the silence on violence against women in Spain, in the project the presenters shed light on a collective of victims who remained invisible for social service providers and law enforcement until the research was conducted. The aim of the project was to explore the life trajectories of young Moroccan women between 15 and 21 years old from poor and rural areas of Morocco. They were seeking to improve living conditions with a migratory project to Spain and the factors that bring them closer to sex trafficking. The study was developed using the Communicative Methodology of research (Puigvert, Gómez, & Flecha, 2011). They conducted fieldwork in Spain and Morocco during 2015, entailing a sum up of 30 qualitative techniques of research.

Presentation Objectives:

• Provide an overview on sex trafficking in Spain
• Show the identification of new realities and collectives of victims as young Moroccan women sex trafficked in Spain
• Discuss the challenges of research on sex trafficking with a social impact

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Sex trafficking is a notorious transnational and international crime (Muftic, Finn, 2013; Raimi, 2012). A common precursor to sexual exploitation is childhood trauma (Campbell, Ahrens, Sefl, & Clark, 20013; Wilson & Widom, 2010). The mental health concerns among sex trafficking victims include emotional, behavioral, social, and spiritual ramifications (Clawson, Dutch, Solomon, & Grace, 2009; Hodge, 2014; Zimmerman, Hossain, & Watts, 2011). Despite the myriad of individuals sexually exploited annually within the United States, scant research attention focuses on the sequelae of trauma and subsequent posttraumatic outcomes. The Changing Actions to Change Habits (CATCH) specialty court provides defendants charged with solicitation, the opportunity of comprehensive assessment and treatment services. The purpose of this pilot study is to empirically investigate the relationship between trauma histories and post-traumatic stress outcomes among individuals enrolled in the CATCH program.
Presentation Objectives:

• Identify CATCH court in Franklin County, Columbus, Ohio 2-year treatment-oriented non-adversarial program for women charged with solicitation
• Recognize salient trauma histories among women engaged in sex trafficking

• Identify complex mental health concerns of trafficked women

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