Overview of the Human Trafficking Issue and Gayle Christie’s involvement

Gayle Christie speaking on behalf of CWA at a Press Conference for launching the campaign of the Rescue & Restore Coalition, a national coalition that builds public awareness about Human Trafficking, modern day slavery. This is a bipartisan effort to eliminate this intolerable abuse.
Ways to identify human trafficking victims. How to get involved at the local level.

Gayle Christie’s involvement in the Human Trafficking issue grew out of her involvement with Concerned Women for America (CWA) in early 2001.

Gayle Christie, representing CWA & Rescue & Restore Coalition, attends Presidential bill signing of the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act) with Dr. Janice Crouse, Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute a leader of the coalition that worked for the bill’s passage, attended the event.

Gayle Christie & Beverly Roberts

In October 2007 Gayle Christie received one of only five Pepsi Freedom Hero awards given in Houston for her efforts in combating the scourge of Human Trafficking. Pepsi began their search in March 2007 for heroes in 10 cities across the nation. The Pepsico Freedom event was sponsored by: National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and PepsiCo In collaboration with Alliance for Multicultural Community Services

After hearing the story about Rosa at a leadership conference in Washington, DC, “it touched my heart, and I knew I had to get involved.”

Rosa, 13 years old, is from Vera Cruz, Mexico. She was working as a waitress, when she was approached by two men, who lured her and several other girls, with the promise of a better life in the United States. She was trucked through Houston destined for Orlando, Florida, where she was forced to work as a prostitute in a trailer park, serving up to 30 men daily. She was beaten and threatened. Turning to drugs to numb herself and having an abortion, she was then miraculously freed when two girls escaped to summon the authorities. Through this Godly intervention, she is miraculously rescued, which then begins the journey of healing her badly abused body, and shattered spirit.

CWA’s Core issues are: Sanctity of Life, Religious Liberty, Redefinition of the Family, Pornography, Education, and United Nations and National Sovereignty.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery. Victims of human trafficking are young children, teenagers, men and women. Approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims annually are trafficked across international borders world wide, and between 18,000 and 20,000 of those victims are trafficked into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of State. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor.

After drug dealing, trafficking of humans is tied with arms dealing as the second largest criminal industry in the world, and is the fastest growing.

Many victims of human trafficking are forced to work in prostitution or the sex entertainment industry. But trafficking also occurs in forms of labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop factory work and migrant agricultural work.
Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and to keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. However, the more frequent practice is to use less obvious techniques including:

• Debt bondage - financial obligations, honor-bound to satisfy debt

• Isolation from the public - limiting contact with outsiders and making sure that any contact is monitored or superficial in nature

• Isolation from family members and members of their ethnic and religious community

• Confiscation of passports, visas and/or identification documents

• Use or threat of violence toward victims and/or families of victims

• The threat of shaming victims by exposing circumstances to family

• Telling victims they will be imprisoned or deported for immigration violations if they contact authorities

• Control of the victims' money, e.g., holding their money for "safe-keeping"

Ways to Identify Victims of Human Trafficking

Victims of trafficking may look like many of the people we come in contact with on a daily basis. However, by “looking beneath the surface” and asking yourself these question, you can help identify potential victims:

• Is the person accompanied by another person who seems controlling

• Can you detect and physical or psychological abuse?

• Does the person seem submissive or fearful?

• Does the person have difficulty communicating due to language or cultural barriers.?

• Does the person have any identification?

Please call the Hot line number 1.888.3737.888 if you suspect trafficking!

Gaining the trust of a victim of human trafficking is an important first step in providing assistance.

In October 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) made human trafficking a Federal crime. It was enacted to prevent human trafficking overseas, to protect victims and help them rebuild their lives in the U.S., and to prosecute traffickers of humans under Federal penalties. Prior to 2000, no comprehensive Federal law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute their traffickers. You can learn more about the "Rescue & Restore Coalition" at their web page.

You may email Florage to get involved at a local level.