Article: The most common form of trafficking was sexual exploitation
published by Thompson Reuters Foundation on March 29, 2017 http://news.trust.org/item/20170329164650-240ft/
Claims related to pizzagate
- sexual exploitation in bars ... is well known
- cases of personal sexual servitude where gang members hold someone basically in captivity in their house for purposes of their own sexual pleasure
- 7,572 trafficking cases were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, a rise of 24 percent on 2015, according to Polaris, with at least 5,550 cases related to sex trafficking
- The most common form of trafficking was sexual exploitation taking place in hotel rooms and private parties described in the report as escort services.
- U.S.-born adults and children are most likely to be victims of sexual exploitation and be forced into door-to-door sales
- Children who have run away from home, those who have been sexually abused, and those in the care of social services or foster parents, are most vulnerable.
- all too often it was assumed that trafficking happens elsewhere and doesn't involve U.S.-born citizens
"Polaris, which runs the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, said its study was based on the largest amount of data gathered on human trafficking in the United States."
All claims are sourced to a study by Polaris
80 page PDF, published on March 2017 https://polarisproject.org/sites/default/files/Polaris-Typology-of-Modern-Slavery.pdf
I did not check the reliability of the study itself, but at least it seems to be very well sourced.
Polaris general point of view into sex trafficking is
"Victims of sex trafficking can be U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, women, men, children, and LGBTQ individuals. Vulnerable populations are frequently targeted by traffickers, including runaway and homeless youth, as well as victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, war, or social discrimination."
- Polaris key statistics includes
"In 2016, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children estimated that 1 in 6 endangered runaways reported to them were likely sex trafficking victims."
About the publisher, reliability check
Thomson Reuters Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales (registration number: 1082139)
"Thomson Reuters is dedicated to upholding the Trust Principles and to preserving its independence, integrity and freedom from bias in the gathering and dissemination of information and news." Trust Principles
- The publishes is well known, has a long history and is being quoted directly by several news agencies
- This article was quoted at least by abs-cbn, voanews and wday
- The article was left unpublished in the Mainstream Media, indicating (along with other trafficking related news unpublished) they are not willing to inform about news supporting pizzagate. I take this as a minor ADD to the reliability in the current circumstances regaring MSM
About the writer, reliability check
Anastasia Moloney @anastasiabogota
Based in Bogota, Anastasia Moloney is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Latin America and Caribbean correspondent. She reports on humanitarian affairs from across the region, and the impact of natural disasters and conflicts on local communities. She also covers good governance and women's rights issues, particularly reproductive rights, for TrustLaw, the foundation's legal news service. Moloney specialises in news about the humanitarian impact of Colombia’s nearly 50-year conflict, of which displacement is a key consequence. She also focuses on foreign donor aid to Haiti and the reconstruction effort in the Caribbean nation following the massive 2010 earthquake. Prior to joining the Thomson Reuters Foundation in 2009, Moloney was a freelance journalist covering political, social and business news from the Andean region for the Financial Times, and other British media and publications in the U.S. She has lived in Colombia since 2002.
My conclusion
The pizzagate related claims in this article can be used as a reliable source, and the article as a whole delivers indicators of sex trafficking of underaged U.S. citizens supporting pizzagaters demand for full investigation. The size of the problem, counting that only one National Hotline received an average of 15 calls a day on 2016 related to sex trafficking victims, further supports the urgency of the matter.
Additionally, the spread of the article delivers an indicator that MSM might be hiding the problem in purpose, reducing the public awareness. In an earlier study I've read it was suggested than less than 10% of the victims report their case, suggesting that there is a remarkable amount of cases of child sex trafficking DAILY in the U.S. This should, by no doubt, be considered as serious enough to both be reported by the MSM and to be investigated fast. The low level of investigations supports pizzagaters claim that the problem might be wiped under the carpet also by th epplitical elite and high profile persons in the law enforcement.
Read also: https://www.ojjdp.gov/mpg/litreviews/CSECSexTrafficking.pdf
One count estimates sex trafficking to victimize more than 200,000 children in the United States annually. An additional 244,000–360,000 children in the United States are at risk each year of being trafficked and sexually exploited.
Copy of the full article
The most common form of trafficking was sexual exploitation
By Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA, March 29 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - From the exploitation of workers in carnivals to forcing people into door-to-door sales, more under-reported forms of modern slavery are emerging in the United States which need to be tackled, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The anti-slavery group Polaris said it had analysed data from 40,000 likely cases of human trafficking and labour exploitation based on calls to a national hotline since 2007 and divided these into 25 different types of modern slavery.
While sexual exploitation in bars and forced labour in tobacco fields, nail salons and homes is well known, other forms of slavery are going under the radar with little action taken to tackle these crimes, said Polaris CEO Bradley Myles.
Polaris, which runs the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, said its study was based on the largest amount of data gathered on human trafficking in the United States.
"We found cases of personal sexual servitude where gang members hold someone basically in captivity in their house for purposes of their own sexual pleasure," Myles told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that traffickers had unique ways of recruiting and controlling victims.
Last year, 7,572 trafficking cases were reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, a rise of 24 percent on 2015, according to Polaris, with at least 5,550 cases related to sex trafficking and 1,057 to trafficking for forced labour.
The most common form of trafficking was sexual exploitation taking place in hotel rooms and private parties described in the report as escort services.
The report also uncovered more obscure types of trafficking, involving victims forced to work in acting, choir and dance troupes or made to operate rides and food stalls at carnivals and fairs. It also uncovered children being forced to beg.
"Our minds need to be as wide open as possible to see the totality of it than to narrow in on certain types," Myles said.
The report found that trafficked victims working in the beauty business, such as nail and hair salons, were most likely to be women from China and Vietnam.
While the majority of labour trafficking victims in construction were men from Mexico and Central America, those working in the hotel industry were typically from Jamaica, the Philippines, and India.
U.S.-born adults and children are most likely to be victims of sexual exploitation and be forced into door-to-door sales, the report said.
Children who have run away from home, those who have been sexually abused, and those in the care of social services or foster parents, are most vulnerable.
Myles said all too often it was assumed that trafficking happens elsewhere and doesn't involve U.S.-born citizens.
"Manipulative and very predatory U.S. citizen pimps see a market opportunity to re-exploit those already vulnerable U.S. citizen girls and boys," he said.
(Reporting by Anastasia Moloney @anastasiabogota, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith and Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit http://news.trust.org))
