What You Can Do
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Get Informed
Marketing Arm of Trafficking Fact Sheet
Sexually Exploited Youth Fact Sheet
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Book List
A Crime So Monstrous by Benjamin Skinner
The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam
The Blue Notebook by James Levine
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Get Involved
Become a part of NOW-NYC’s ongoing campaign: Ending the Business of Human Trafficking in New York City by raising community awareness of human trafficking throughout New York. NOW-NYC has been advocating on behalf of exploited victims by lobbying for comprehensive and effective legislation that appropriately penalizes traffickers and helps victims and educating local businesses about their role in this illegal industry in the effort to break the cycle of enslavement. In June of 2007, New York State passed its first anti-human trafficking law, and in 2008 we helped secure the Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act. While this is a huge step forward, there is still work to be done to ensure that the law is implemented as effectively as possible. The group is currently working to make sure cops and other first responders get the training they need to best respond to trafficking victims and put away pimps. Join us!
Please email Chanelle Pearson at chanellepearson@gmail.com or call 212-627-9895 to RSVP or find out more information.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Speak Up
Hold Johns Responsible for Soliciting a Minor for Sex
Men who buy sex should face appropriate consequences for their actions. A new bill passing in the Senate would make it easier to prosecute johns for soliciting sex with a child. By making the crime of patronizing a prostitute in the first or second degree an “affirmative defense,” the new law would place the burden of checking age on the perpetrator, where it should be. The “I didn’t know” defense would no longer stand. (This doesn’t change current law that if a sex act is completed, a john would face statutory rape charges.)
This law is an added step in the right direction for curbing the demand for commercial sex and the exploitation of young girls that goes along with it, but it is being held up in the Assembly.
How you can help: Contact Speaker Sheldon’s Office and ask that A11214 is put forth for a vote immediately.
Ensure Trafficking Survivors Have a Fair Shot at Rebuilding Their Lives
A person who is forced into sexual slavery should not be further victimized with a criminal record. The new legislation would help victims of sex trafficking who have been convicted of prostitution to have the unfair charges against them removed. This bill has passed in the Senate and is set to be voted on in the Assembly next.
How you can help: Call your Assembly Member and tell them to support A0767, a bill that would give needed help to trafficking members.
Trafficking Free, NYC!
Aimed at ending newspapers and magazines’ reliance on advertisement revenue from illegal massage parlors and brothels, NOW-NYC is asking local publications to stop doing business with the organized commercial sex industry by signing an anti-trafficking pledge Trafficking Free, NYC! The pledge rewards publications that have made a policy not to advertise brothels. Traffickers supply the local brothel market to meet demand for commercial sex. Turn through the pages of your neighborhood papers and let us know whether or not they are “trafficking free.” Many major publications have already signed on, but there are dozens of local newspapers. We need to increase our reach across the five boroughs and to more ethnic papers. Pick them up, if they have sketchy ads for massage parlors, escort services or classified ads, call them and tell them you won’t read it anymore, better, call an advertiser and call us! 212.627.9895/ contact@nownyc.org.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Ask a Cop
New York City police officers are on the front line. They can identify and rescue victims, and arrest perpetrators. But many of New York’s finest don’t even know what human trafficking is. Help NOW-NYC convince the NYPD that the need exists for comprehensive and effective training in law enforcement to better end the trafficking of women and girls for commercial
sexual exploitation.
Next time you see a police officer, ask the officer what she or he knows about trafficking. Then send an email to contact@nownyc.org letting us know what you found out. Please include information on where and when you spoke to the officer.
Sample Questions To Get You Started:
Excuse me, officer…
“I heard that New York passed a new law criminalizing human trafficking. Do you see that kind of thing?”
“I just read an article that human trafficking is happening here in New York City. Is that true?”
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Report a Crime
You can report trafficking crimes or get help by calling the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line at 1-888-428-7581 (voice and TTY). New laws provide options for trafficking victims regardless of immigration status. Operators have access to interpreters and can talk with callers in their own language. The service is offered on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. After these hours, information is available on tape in English, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin.
Leave a comment