New York Anti-Trafficking Coalition

The passage of the bill is the result of four years of advocacy by Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) and members of the NYS Anti-Trafficking Coalition. Led by Rachel Lloyd, Executive Director of GEMS, survivors lobbied in Albany to push legislators to revamp a system that criminalized sexually exploited girls, some as young as 12 years old.

Send Pens to Governor Paterson.  Along with the pens, send a note asking Governor Paterson to take a stand for the thousands of sexually exploited youth in our state by making the Safe Harbor Act law. 

At NOW-NYC we bought inexpensive pens that we are putting mailing labels on with messages regarding the Safe Harbor Act and the commerical sexual exploitation of children in New York State. If you have pens with your organization’s name on them, that is all the better.

Time is of the essence, this week is key!

Mail Pens and Letters to:
Governor David A. Paterson
Executive Mansion
138 Eagle Street
Albany, NY 12207

Message Ideas:
-More than 2,000 children in NYC alone are sexually exploited through prostitution!
-Make the Safe Harbor Act Law!

Include a letter along with your pens:

Governor David A. Paterson
Executive Mansion
138 Eagle Street
Albany, NY 12207

Dear Governor,

I urge you to sign into law the SAFE Harbor for Exploited Children Act (A.5258; S.3175) which will stop the prosecution of sexually exploited children in our state and create a range of community-based programs to assist these children. Human trafficking is a serious crime in New York State and throughout the country. This legislation recognizes the urgent need to extend critical protection to some of its youngest victims.

Each year, thousands of children are victims of commercial sexual exploitation throughout New York State. According to a report by WESTAT for the New York State Office of Child and Family Services, 67% of victims in New York City are African-American, 74% of exploitation takes place in a hotel or outside, and 75% of it is by strangers. In Upstate New York, 52% of abuse occurred in the child’s home while 58% of abusers were adult friends or acquaintances. Finally, 17% of the sex acts were used in films, photos or pornography.

In our state, selling sex is a harsh reality for girls as young as twelve, yet our current legal system re-victimizes these children by treating them as criminals and denying them access to the services they desperately need. With this new law in place, the funds that New York State now spends to incarcerate sexually exploited children can be re-directed to cover the cost of providing the specialized services these young victims need in order to live free from abuse.

We believe the Safe Harbor Act will be a critical tool in helping New York State move from prosecuting to protecting children exploited in the commercial sex trade. This law will enable these children to rebuild their young lives. We ask you to signal your clear understanding of the failure of past policies and the promise of this new approach by signing this bill into law. We thank you for your leadership in protecting all victims of crime in our state.

Sincerely,

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P.S. To ensure that you have a pen at hand with which to sign, we enclose this nominal gift. Use it in good health on this and other worthy legislation.