Hello, readers. We value you all so much and hope that everyone is staying safe, healthy, and strong during these uncertain times. Through prayer and support from one another, we can foster a positive community environment that protects each other, and ensures that we emerge on the other side of this pandemic unified, resilient, and passionate about helping to end human trafficking. COVID-19, like many other things, has negatively affected the sex trafficking and porn industries. Understanding how these industries have been impacted will allow for us to predict how to best fight against trafficking during the pandemic, as well as how to transition our efforts after COVID-19 has run its course.
Who is Vulnerable to Human Trafficking?
To understand COVID-19’s impact on human trafficking, it is important to understand what makes people susceptible to human trafficking in the first place. Polaris Project determines that there are three major factors: economic need, unstable living conditions, and substance abuse issues. Immigrant communities, especially those who are undocumented, are at a higher risk because traffickers will use immigration status to control individuals. Additionally, homeless individuals are more vulnerable to trafficking. Data from the US National Human Trafficking Hotline found that “groups who experience marginalization by race, income, gender identity, sexual orientation, and immigration status are more likely to be exploited through sex and labor trafficking”. One source reported:
“The majority of victims are women—70 percent—and risk for women may be heightened further in areas where extreme gender discrimination prevails. Additional factors such as impoverishment, residing in a place of political instability, enduring systemic racism, suffering from a mental disorder, or being involved in gangs may increase a person’s likelihood of victimization.”
COVID-19’s Effect on Human Trafficking
Here is how the global pandemic has negatively impacted human trafficking: COVID-19 makes it more difficult for human trafficking victims to escape dangerous situations (source). Domestic workers face a multitude of problems. A majority of the two million nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers in the United States are women. According to Polaris Project, there were approximately 8,000 labor trafficking cases reported between December 2007 and December 2017. The highest number of those trafficking cases involved domestic work, and 8,000 is thought to be an underreported number because human trafficking is severely underreported. If domestic workers do not have official employment status, they are generally ineligible for unemployment insurance if laid off during lockdown; also, if they are immigrants or married to an immigrant, they will be discluded from stimulus checks as well. Government efforts, like passing legislation that allows for the provision of tax credits to those experiencing economic dislocation, have been made by Congress. But a large portion of domestic workers file using a taxpayer identification number instead of a social security number, and many do not have recorded proof of employment - thus, they would not qualify for the benefits created by the government. Many employers are unwilling or unable to pay their workers during the lockdown when the business is on pause. Due to a range of factors, some businesses may have to close and will thus be unable to financially support domestic workers any longer. These effects are not good news and may make it easier for domestic workers to be victimized by their employers and traffickers. One news source reported that in Hawaii, there has been an increase in women reporting landlords who ask for sexual favors in exchange for rent. Recent furloughs or layoffs have put women in difficult, vulnerable situations in which they can become victimized by their landlords.
Efforts to assist trafficked individuals have also been affected. Some shelters hold beds for victims, but require health screenings beforehand that take time to conduct and process. Transportation logistics have also been delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions, making it difficult for victims to arrive at shelters in time before beds are given to other people. Some shelters have had to limit capacities to adhere to social distancing requirements, and some groups can no longer meet victims in hospitals, or face-to-face.
In global news, red-light districts are virtually empty (source). Global outreach has noted that victims are left to fend for themselves during this time, so governments are permitting agencies to engage in outreach. Even in countries where prostitution is legal, women are being left without homes as authorities shut down brothels, citing that they are non-essential businesses (source). Some of these women have been without income since mid-March, and others are soliciting clients on the streets to make money. Other women are turning to online streaming websites to sell their services. The United States reported that few agencies are continuing outreach, however, and those who are have been offering basic necessities to encourage interaction with victims. In Myanmar, women are creating masks, soaps, and sanitizers to deliver to local vulnerable populations. Providers of sex services are lacking resources to stay open. A lot of this is fantastic news, and exhibits how communities are banding together and how COVID-19 has actually helped to restrict human trafficking. However, we cannot ignore that pimps, brothel owners, and traffickers are working to find new ways to make money and service clients during these times, and that these efforts will likely come at risks to the women involved.
Read the previous blog post here: An Overview of Illicit Massage Businesses
Now that the education system has been suspended, children are becoming more vulnerable to exploitation. One source speculates that financial strain may lead either to families forcing their children into labor or to an increase in child marriage. Children are also spending more time on the internet now that they are not in school. This creates a medium through which people can reach children and attempt to exploit them. One source reported that U.S. Senators are working to bring awareness to these dangers by proposing The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act. This act would enact better protections for children online by helping the technology sector to create practices to fight against child exploitation.
Pornhub
A reality of the online world is the existence of the porn company, Pornhub. A Google Analytics report found that porn searches increase by 4700% when children are not in school. During the month of March, Pornhub offered its premium service option for free to the entire world. A representative said this was “in an effort to encourage the importance of staying home and practicing social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic” (source). Trial runs were conducted before making the site free to the world, and data reported a 57% spike in traffic in Italy, a 38% increase in France, and a 61% rise in Spain. Pornhub has received complaints that the content shared on their site is not consensual. While Pornhub has denied allegations of knowingly running any sexually abusive content, people raise concerns that the site is open to abuse and exploitation.With the increased traffic, the abuse and exploitation will likely increase.
Government Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking
President Trump signed an executive order on January 31st, 2020 that aims to expand his Domestic Policy Counsel to include a new position, in which its sole focus will be to fight against human trafficking in the United States (source). In the past, the Trump Administration has shut down websites associated with groups who have been accused of operating human trafficking rings. Trump’s executive order called for a $4 million increase in funding investigations into trafficking and prosecuting human trafficking within the US, as well as for an increase in grant funding for both state and local efforts to fight trafficking. Any attention given to help put an end to human trafficking is uplifting and will also hopefully create more global awareness.
How to Help in Your Community
With all this information, it is understandable if the effects of COVID-19 on human trafficking are a little overwhelming. Since these circumstances are unusual and unfamiliar, it is difficult to predict the psychological effects on victims of the trafficking and porn industries. There is no conclusive data regarding how either industry is benefiting during these times. In the porn industry, there is no way to guarantee that the women being filmed have given their consent. They may be trafficking victims, either coerced into filming or being filmed without their knowledge. These experiences are doubtlessly traumatic, and the implications on how the trends within these industries, given the global circumstances, will impact these women’s psychological and emotional health are uncertain.
Thankfully, many websites shared tips on how you can help within your local community during this unprecedented time. Three ways to help vulnerable communities include the support of policies to stabilize existing housing, utilize vouchers, and create job incentives for employers to hire people in communities at living wages. It is important that lawmakers are aware of how supporting the economy in specific ways can support people who are vulnerable. You can also advocate for landlords to show their support by keeping utilities on and offering “stay evictions”. You can also help to ensure that children who rely on school for meals are fed. In cases of domestic workers, do not expect them to fulfill more than their usual responsibilities, and consider continuing to pay them even if you cannot use their services due to social distancing rules.
We must expect that because COVID-19 has slowed in-person businesses related to human trafficking, that after the pandemic recedes traffickers will aim to increase their revenue and regrow the in-person businesses. What can be done right now? Together, our communities can work to make sure that our more vulnerable members are protected as much as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic. We can encourage lawmakers to support the economy in ways that assist vulnerable people; we can advocate for utilities to remain on and for children to be fed while not in school. Depending on the communities we are involved in, this outreach can take forms of writing letters to local government officials, volunteering, or donating money to support assistive actions. We can also pray for the safety and encouragement of the vulnerable in our communities. Catalyst Ministries is continually working to support these women, but we cannot help them without your assistance. If you help to support Catalyst Ministries financially and prayerfully, you will help to aid in the healing and restoration of survivors of sex trafficking - and Catalyst Ministries is incredibly appreciative of your considerations. To donate, click here. By supporting these individuals, we will situate our communities in ways that will be better equipped to resist human trafficking efforts. We will get through these unusual times, and when it is best to return to our normal lives, we will continue to pray and fight to end human trafficking.
- Deanna
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
— Proverbs 31: 8 - 9