By: Vanessa Pinto

What do you think of when you think of Costa Rica? For most people, visions of volcanoes, zip lining, exotic animals and rain forests are the first things that come to mind. But there is another reason to travel to Costa Rica that a certain segment of visitors don’t disclose. Sex tourism is a large attraction for some people traveling to Costa Rica; prostitution is legal and individuals travel there to buy sex on a regular basis. Sex tours fueled by tourist dollars are becoming more popular and children are available for varying prices.

It came to my attention that the first safe house for trafficked children is being opened in Costa Rica by Maria Fejervary, founder of the nonprofit Salvando Corazones. Fejervary went on a family vacation to Costa Rica seven years ago and a disturbing sign greeted her at the airport. It read: “Dear Tourist, In Costa Rica sex with children under 18 is a serious crime. Should you engage in it, we will drive you to jail.” She and her children found this not only odd but upsetting.

Beyond all of the beauty that her family saw as they vacationed, they also witnessed symptoms of a child trafficking epidemic that left them shaken:

I lived in Redwood city, my job for 28 years was running my own daycare business. I have always been a single mom my whole life. I have four children, two of which were adopted from Russia. I love kids. I knew I needed to go down there and find a way to help. I wanted to open a safe house, but how do you do that?

She then sold her house, shipped her things to Costa Rica and boarded a plane to find out.

More and more children are being bought in the sex trade in Costa Rica and the age range is truly frightening.

I met a 14-year-old boy on my second trip. He was filthy and in this drug-infested area. This boy was out on the road and we picked him up in a taxi. Once he got in, he looked at me and said, ‘Well, where’s the man?’ I said there was no man and he said, ‘I don’t have sex with women, only men.’

Fejervary took him to a nearby hotel where she left him alone to shower and bought him some new clothes. This boy was clearly confused as to what her intentions were, since sex with him wasn’t going to happen. Fejervary wanted to know his story and the story of others.

This child was kicked out by his family at age 11, because it cost too much for his family to feed him. The boy learned quickly that he could prostitute himself in order to eat and endless men were ready and willing to pay him to do that. He lived on the side of the road in between large plants: “He parted some plants and there were blankets on the ground. That is where his home is and he told me, “This is where I am, when I’m not in a hotel room with a man” says Fejervary. She continues:

Kids are forced out and sold by their parents or mistreated at home and run away. One in three kids are sexually abused and when they approached PANI (Child Protective Services) they were unable to help because there were no facilities in which to place them.

It’s not just Costa Rican children that are trafficked within Costa Rica. Children from Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua, Asia, Russia and even North America are being trafficked in Costa Rica.

Fejervary gave an example of an American child survivor:

We just had a girl trafficked from the United States at 14. Her abuse started at 5 years old by her father. He then brought her to Costa Rica and shared her with brothers, uncles and other family members. When she was around 16, she decided to get paid for it, since her family was constantly raping her. It’s nothing she would normally choose to do, but it’s all she has known since she was 5 years old.

As Fejervary explains, most child prostitutes succumb to prostitution by the age of 12 and incest is one of the main reasons for this occurrence.

Fejervary also believes this wouldn’t be as lucrative of a business if it wasn’t for the American tourists visiting Costa Rica specifically there to have sex with children:

Americans and Costa Ricans found a way to organize and incorporate this as a tourist activity for gringos, offering them sex tours when they come down. If the Americans weren’t there, the problem wouldn’t be as bad as it is right now.

In listening to her speak, it is clear that there is a sick supply and demand, fueled predominately by American dollars.

Now, Fejervary understands the problem is more complex than that:

Not all tourists come here with the intention of having sex with children. There is drinking, gambling and all the drugs you want in Costa Rica. It’s like the Disneyland of everything, so imagine that you’re totally wasted, having fun and you’re flirting with all these 18 to 22-year-olds. A guy approaches and says, ‘Yeah, they’re hot, but I can get you something hotter and younger.’ They get caught up in, ‘Well, if Im doing it with an 18-year-old, what’s wrong with a 16-year-old?’ and they get younger and younger.Local and federal law enforcement does not help. There is so much corruption in Costa Rica, it is hard to implement laws. The PANI fired quite a few employees for having child pornography on their computers. They’ve also fired people for having sex with the children in their care. Last year, the mayor of Capos was arrested twice and released twice for having videos of child pornography and having sex with kids. The corruption is everywhere.

Fejervary went from going to Costa Rica knowing no one, to having the first facility that’s licensed, by all government agencies. She continues:

They licensed the home that we have for 18 beds. We developed a full program of home schooling and integration process. They get schooling, housing and a lot of love and support. They get counseling everyday, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, psychotherapy and yoga. There is a daily schedule set out for them, mandatory computer skills, english skills, hygiene, sex education, how do you take care of your body, what your rights are with your body… We also want to integrate a parenting class, because this country does not have courses on basic parenting skills. So many children in this country are parents themselves. Unfortunately it is not uncommon to see a 14 or 15-year-old pregnant or with a child.

Salvando Corazones is looking for a second house and more exposure to the issue:

We want more safe houses for the children when they seek help, due to being trafficked or sexually abused. If people continue to think that prostitution is something that children choose, that’s not empowerment and that’s certainly not a choice. We need to change how the country views prostitution and change the laws of it, so attitudes change and the exploitation of children happens less and less. Poverty creates this problem. When parents have to sell their kids because they can’t feed them, we have a problem.

Believe it or not, human beings are bought and sold on a daily basis across this nation. The victims are typically women – both adults and children – but sometimes include men. Many of these victims come to the United States in hope for a better life, and some are American citizens that got caught up in this vicious scheme. Regardless of how an individual becomes a victim of human trafficking, each ends up in a system of modern day slavery. Only some of them make it out; others do not.

In Houston, 16-year-old Maria was lured from Mexico by a man who assured her that she would have a better life in the U.S. Soon after she arrived at an unknown home, she learned that this scoundrel was a slave master and that she had to work to repay him for bringing her across the border. He put her up for sale; she was a sex slave. She was tortured, abused, and forced to give herself to numerous men every day. However and even though it is hard to say this, Maria was one of the “lucky” ones. Law enforcement intervened and rescued her from being a victim of human trafficking. Her trafficker was convicted and sent to prison, where all evil slave traders belong.

Due to the complex nature of human trafficking crimes, statistics are still a work in progress. In 2009, the Department of Justice reported that at least 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into our country every year. Data also shows that in 2007, 30% of the calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline came from Texas. To our dismay, Houston is a hub city for human trafficking thanks to its accessibility via airports, interstates, and ports. Fortunately, our state has some of the most dedicated law enforcement agencies and public officials who combat this devastating crime and advocate for the victims every day.

On the federal level, the U.S. Department of Education, in collaboration with the White House, FBI, and Department of State and Justice, has focused on the widespread problem and is working to train certain school districts to educate them on human trafficking. The Department of Justice’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit also seeks to work closely with law enforcement agencies to identify trafficking networks and collaborate on investigations.

As the cofounder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus, I am working with service providers and victim advocates to pave federal roads, such as the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, to help combat human trafficking. The Caucus recently held two Congressional briefings to raise awareness amongst Members of Congress on trafficking transactions that occur online.

September is Houston Human Trafficking Awareness Month and although the month comes to an end, the problems with human trafficking do not. In an effort to combat human trafficking in Houston as well as throughout the country, we must come together under a common cause. America is a free country, and every American deserves to live within the bounds of that freedom.

SOURCE & IMAGE: http://www.texasgopvote.com/issues/restore-families/houston-human-trafficking-awareness-month-004653

September, 24, 2012

Four men had been arrested and charged with human trafficking after being caught helping six people illegally cross into Thailand for work, police said yesterday.

Sith Los, Banteay Meanchey anti-human trafficking police chief, said police had arrested all 10 people on Saturday as they attempted to cross the border.

The six workers told police the alleged brokers had made them pay as much as 200,000 riel ($50) for the crossing.

The six had since been released after police warned them of the perils of illegal border crossing and dealing with brokers.

Los said that according to his department’s findings, more than 3,000 people had been rescued from illegal brokers in the province this year, a jump of about 1,000 from the corresponding time last year.

“Officials are keeping a very close eye on this type of activity,” he said.

BY LEON WORDEN, SCVNEWS.COM SEP 24, 2012

[AG Kamala Harris] – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced today that two bills that will make it more difficult for human traffickers to hide their assets have been signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.

Assembly Bill 2466, by Bob Blumenfield (D-San Fernando Valley), ensures that criminal defendants involved in human trafficking will not dispose of assets that would otherwise be provided as restitution to victims. Senate Bill 1133, by Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), expands the list of assets that a human trafficker must forfeit and provides a formula for using those resources to help victims of human trafficking. Both laws will take effect on January 1, 2013.

“With these new laws, California prosecutors and law enforcement officials will be able to seize assets of human traffickers, cripple their operations and aid victims,” said Attorney General Harris. “Human trafficking is big business in California. It is a high profit criminal industry that is expanding rapidly across the globe, including here in California.”

Assembly Bill 2466 (Preservation of Assets for Victims of Human Trafficking), will help to ensure that more victims of human trafficking receive restitution. Under California law, victims are entitled to mandatory restitution; however there are no laws to help prevent human trafficking defendants from liquidating and hiding their assets before conviction. Assembly Bill 2466 will allow a court to order the preservation of the assets and property by persons charged with human trafficking.

“We need all hands on deck to confront trafficking,” Blumenfield said. “Trafficking is slavery. Now, the perpetrators of this despicable crime cannot game the system and keep their money when caught and convicted. Justice will come for victims.”

Senate Bill 1133 ensures that those convicted of human trafficking crimes involving minors will not be able to keep the financial benefits reaped from their unlawful activity. The law expands the scope of property subject to forfeiture and provides a formula to redirect those resources to community groups that aid victims of human trafficking.

“Today we are one step closer to dismantling the economic infrastructure that convicted child sex traffickers rely on to continue to lure young people into the sex trade,” said Senator Leno. “In addition to taking away the lucrative profits from these horrendous crimes, we are providing much-needed financial support for increased investigations and victim services.”

Attorney General Harris is committed to the fight against this fast-growing crime that deprives persons of basic human rights. Harris co-sponsored the California Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2005, which made human trafficking a felony in California. Attorney General Harris has also served on the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery Task Force.

On Friday, Attorney General Harris and Mexico Attorney General Marisela Morales Ibáñez signed an accord to expand prosecutions and secure convictions of criminals who engage in the trafficking of human beings. The accord will increase coordination of law enforcement resources targeting transnational gangs that engage in the sale and trafficking of human beings across the California-Mexico border. The accord also calls for closer integration on human trafficking investigations between the two offices and the sharing of best practices for law enforcement to recognize instances of human trafficking and provide support and services to victims.

Human trafficking is estimated to be a $32 billion industry, the world’s third most profitable criminal enterprise behind drugs and arms trafficking. Human trafficking involves the recruitment, smuggling, transporting, harboring, buying, or selling of a person for purposes of exploitation, prostitution, domestic servitude, sweatshop labor, migrant work, agricultural labor, peonage, bondage, or involuntary servitude. While human trafficking often involves the smuggling of human beings across international borders, numerous Americans are trafficked around the United States ever year. Human trafficking strips people, especially women and children, of their freedom and violates our nation’s promise that every person in the United States is guaranteed basic human rights.

For more information on the trafficking of human beings, go towww.oag.ca.gov/human-trafficking.

SOURCE: http://scvnews.com/?p=36447

IMAGE: http://www.google.com/

September 13, 2012

United Kingdom

NHS (National Health Service) Greater Glasgow and Clyde is to offer frontline staff specialist guidance.

Health chiefs believe NHS workers could be in a unique position to offer assistance if trafficking victims come to them for medical help.

Police have estimated Scotland has 13.5% of the UK’s trade in humans despite the country having less than 10% of the UK population.

Sharon Doherty, the health board’s consultant clinical psychologist, provides mental health care to victims of human trafficking. She said: “Trafficked men and women can be trapped in sexual slavery and forced labour or domestic servitude here in Glasgow, in some cases held captive for many years in a locked single room. Anything health staff can do to identify victims of trafficking and make it difficult for traffickers to use the UK as a destination is vital.”

Signs that someone could have been subjected to this could include injuries or scarring from assaults, signs of rape or sexual abuse or post-traumatic stress and psychological disorders.Victims could also be accompanied by a minder, who they defer to and who speaks for them. They may also appear nervous and be unwilling to volunteer questions.

Dr Doherty added: “Trafficking does exist in Glasgow and traffickers have been able to use the fact that health professionals and other agencies may not be fully aware of the issue. By increasing awareness amongst health staff about this issue, I think it will make it increasingly difficult for traffickers to use the UK as a destination.”

Catriona Renfrew, director of corporate planning and policy at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “Trafficking exists in Scotland and contact with a health worker may be the one chance for a trafficked person to get help and protection. This is a cruel trade in human lives and staff can play an important role by picking up on injuries or behaviour and help people contact the police or other appropriate authorities and services.”

SOURCE: http://www.eastkilbridenews.co.uk/

IMAGE: www.google.com

Published: September 8, 2012

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Anyone can be a victim of modern day slavery, but young girls are particularly vulnerable.  When big events  come to Austin, advocates say the demand for sex goes up, and that’s why human trafficking is on the rise.

LOS ANGELES- On Friday, August 17^th, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to support Proposition 35 – Stop Human Trafficking in California. Slated for the November 2012 ballot, Proposition 35 is an initiative that will fight against human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women and children in the state. Today’s action by the City Council carries special significance given that Los Angeles is one of three cities in the state recognized by the FBI as high intensity child sex trafficking areas.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry led the motion to support Proposition 35, saying: “By supporting Prop 35, Los Angeles is fighting back against human trafficking of vulnerable women and children that is happening in our community. Unfortunately, Los Angeles is a center for child sex trafficking, but we can fight back against these terrible crimes by passing Prop 35 and putting in place tougher penalties for human traffickers. We urge all voters in Los Angeles and throughout the state of California to join us in supporting Prop 35.”

Chris Kelly, Founder of the Safer California Foundation, said: “As the governing body of California’s largest city, today’s vote of support from the Los Angeles City Council is significant. Californians have the chance to take a stand against these crimes with Proposition 35, and Los Angeles is helping to lead the way in that fight. Together, we can fight back against human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children in our state.”

The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles. Founded in 1850, it consists of fifteen elected members and serves the needs of nearly four million Los Angeles residents. At today’s City Council Meeting, Councilwoman Jan Perry authored the resolution to support Prop 35 and Councilmember Tom LaBonge seconded the motion.

About Proposition 35 – Stop Human Trafficking in California:

In California, many vulnerable women and young girls are held against their will and forced to sell their bodies. The victims are often girls as young as 12 who are sexually exploited for the financial gain of human traffickers. They are afraid for their lives and abused – sexually, physically, and mentally.

Human trafficking is said to be one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world – and it is taking place right here in our own backyard. Three cities in California – San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego – are recognized by the FBI as high intensity child sex trafficking areas. In addition, a recent national study by a victims’ rights group gave California an “F” grade for its weak laws dealing with child sex trafficking.

Proposition 35, a partnership of California Against Slavery and the Safer California Foundation, will protect children in California by:

• Increasing prison terms for human traffickers.
• Requiring convicted sex traffickers to register as sex offenders.
• Requiring all registered sex offenders to disclose their internet accounts.
• Requiring criminal fines from convicted human traffickers to pay for services to help victims.

Proposition 35 has also been endorsed by organizations representing over 90,000 rank and file California Peace Officers, advocates for the protection of children, including Marc Klaas and the KlaasKids Foundation, and victims who survived sexual exploitation when they were children. Prop 35 has strong bipartisan support and is endorsed by both major political parties in California.

Contact:
Sarah Hersh, Yes on Prop 35 Campaign, 510-550-8170 (o)/ 510-759-2921 (c)

Contact:
Eva Kandarpa Behrend, Councilwoman Perry, 213-473-2308 (o)/ (213) 359-3084 (c)

For more visit:  www.caseact.org

Paid for by Highroad L.A., www.highroadla.com

SOURCE: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/los-angeles-city-council-votes-unanimously-to-support-proposition-35-stop-human-trafficking-in-california-166729986.html

IMAGE: http://www.google.com/imgres

The Sentinel can today reveal 208 Kular Court as the exact location of a Londonderry brothel where men paid £70 to have sex with the victims of sex trafficking during 2008 and 2009.

Confirming the existence of a large-scale human trafficking network, state police have found that at least an average of 22 girls have per day have gone missing in the Indian state of Andra Pradesh, only this year, while the total number of women and girls that have gone missing in the the last four years stands at a staggering 23,760 out of the 47,181 people who have gone missing since 2009.

Out of the number of children who were kidnapped, 66% (10,938) are girls. As the number of missing girls seems to be only increasing as, till July 2012, another 2,786 children have gone missing with over 70% of them (1,955) girls. That means that about 10 girls go missing each day. Similarly, 2,519 women were missing till July this year, which means every day 12 women go missing.

The alarming fact is the number of women and girls that remain missing in government records in the past four years. Since 2009, a total of 23,760 girls and women have gone missing in the state and they are yet to be traced. This hints at the possibility of these victims being caught in the clutches of human traffickers.

To help the family-members track down these missing persons, police have launched a website displaying their case details. Explaining the usefulness of the web portal, additional DG VSK Kaumudi said that one can search for the missing or found person’s details on the said website and approach the concerned police station or other government agency for further assistance.  “If someone finds a missing boy or girl, they can upload the photograph on the website with the person’s details after cross-checking the same on the missing persons list. We hope that this facility will help some missing persons to reunite with their families,” the ADG said. PTI

SOURCE: http://www.aaj.tv/2012/08/in-india-22-girls-get-kidnapped-every-day/

Picture: google images

Mbarka Mint Aheimed first met her father on the day he forced her into slavery. The man who dragged her from her mother when she was aged five needed “a drudge” in his wife’s mansion. Since Aheimed was the result of him raping her mother – one of his slaves – she was a natural choice, he told her.

“Because my mother was her husband’s slave, his wife saw us all as personal property. It was completely normal for her to do what she wanted with us,” Aheimed would later tell anti-slave activists in Mauritania. Living in a tiny hut that opened to the fierce heat of the orange dune-swept deserts, she worked from dawn to dusk. For 15 years, she never had a day off. “The family lived in a mansion but I was the only person who lifted a finger to work,” she said.

Once she was old enough to start covering her head – but forced, against tradition, to leave her arms bare to carry out heavy lifting – one of the slaveowner’s sons drove her miles into the desert and raped her. Later he would only take her far enough to collect firewood for making tea on their return.

Aheimed’s story isn’t uncommon. In 1981 Mauritania became the last country to abolish slavery, although it was only criminalised in 2007. Officials repeatedly denied it existed and refused to talk to the Guardian about slavery. But activists and former slaves spoke of a centuries-old practice, a relic of the trans-Sahara slave trade when Arabic-speaking Moors raided African villages, flourishing in remote outposts of this vast desert country.

A rigid caste system that favours “noble-borns”, and zealous efforts to brand the country an Arab republic, concentrates power and wealth among overwhelmingly lighter-skinned Moors, leaving slave-descended darker-skinned Moors and black Africans on the edges of society. Up to 800,000 people in a nation of 3.5 million remain chattels, according to activists who routinely document cases like Aheimed’s.

But slavery is often harder to pin down. With almost half the population living on less than $2 a day, many slaveowners work alongside their slaves.

Boubacar Messaoud grew up in a grey area between slavery and freedom, paid a token salary in return for farming. “One day when we were about seven, the slaveowner’s son, whose name was also Boubacar, said I should be called Boubacar abd [the black slave], so people didn’t confuse us. That was when I understood.”

And many do not identify themselves as slaves. “When people talk of slavery, they talk of chains, prisons, and threats. That was the slavery of those who had known liberty – the Africans who jumped into the sea rather than be enslaved in America,” said Messaoud, who founded the abolitionist organisation SOS Slaves. “Today we have the slavery American plantation owners dreamed of. Slaves believe their condition is necessary to get to paradise.”

Thirteen years after slavery was abolished, SOS Slaves began holding secret meetings beneath rugs to muffle voices, in moonlight on the flat rooftop of a building in Nouakchott. Messaoud and his co-founder, a “noble” who had chosen a slave as a seventh birthday gift, were harassed and imprisoned. Even today, state agents lurking outside the building trail visitors afterwards.

Family members initially voiced opposition, too. “My mother believed she was protecting me when she reminded me that I was a slave – that I shouldn’t forget my place,” Messaoud said.

Statistics paint a bleak – and complicated – picture. A judge told the Guardian Mauritania is unlikely to improve on its record of one successful prosecution anytime soon: “[Recently] three runaway children overheard me saying we had to imprison their master. They immediately started crying in horror. They suddenly changed their story, they said he always treated them well, fed them, sheltered them. They wanted to go back with him.”

Some former slaves like Malaka, 28, tended his owner’s goats unsupervised for weeks at a time in the desert. “I didn’t want to leave because I was scared to leave my family behind. And I was scared because I had heard about money, but I had never seen it in my life,” he said.

Escape is no guarantee of freedom. When Ahmeid went to her local magistrate, her mother testified against her. Her uncle beat her savagely. After weeks shuttling between sympathisers, she found herself crouching in a two-storey building in Nouakchott late one evening as truckloads of policemen stormed an anti-slavery organisation where she had been sheltering. The group’s leader, Birame Ould Abeid, and three others were jailed after publicly burning religious texts that have been used to justify slavery, and calling for black Moors and black Africans to unite.

With black Moors used as foot-soldiers in state crackdowns that target black populations, mutual suspicion between the two populations is unlikely to fade soon. But the routine arrests and beatings of abolitionists show how a ruling elite, having woven slavery into the heart of political power in Mauritania, are fearful of it unravelling, Nouakchott-based campaigner Toure Balla said. “There are places where one family has 5,000 slaves – that is 5,000 guaranteed votes,” said Balla, who attends a growing swell of weekly protests.

Abolitionists say Mauritania is only the tip of the iceberg: “Slavery exists in all the countries of the Sahara desert. But it’s only when the slave lifts their head to speak that the crime is discovered,” said Messaoud.

Around the world

• An estimated 27 million people, spread across countries such as Nigeria, Indonesia, and Brazil, live in conditions of forced bondage.

• Every year at least 700,000 people are trafficked across borders and into slavery.

• About 300,000 children serve as child soldiers in 30 armed conflicts worldwide. Many female child soldiers are also forced into sexual slavery.

• In 1809, the average price of a slave in the southern US states was $40,000 (£25,500), in today’s money. In 2009, the average price of a slave was $90.

• At least 2,600 women are working as prostitutes in England and Wales having been trafficked from abroad

Sources: US state department; International Organization for Migration; Unicef; Kevin Bales; 2010 police report

STORY SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/14/slavery-still-shackles-mauritania

After increasing pressure, Nestle, the world’s largest food company, took a big risk when it commissioned the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to map and assess its cocoa supply chain in the Ivory Coast. This was the first time a multi-national chocolate producer has allowed its procurement system to be completely traced and evaluated and what they found wasn’t pretty. The FLA discovered “multiple serious violations” of the company’s own supplier code which includes clauses on child labour, safety and working hours. Though disconcerting, this assessment is vital to truly changing their supply chain and ultimately removing slavery completely.

FLA President Auret van Heerden said, “For too long child labour in cocoa production has been everybody’s problem and therefore nobody’s responsibility. Now that its supply chain has been mapped, Nestle will be held accountable. Nestle is taking direct responsibility for decreasing the risks.” The company has now laid out a detailed plan to try to solve the problem.

Nestle took that first step because people like YOU demanded products made without the use of forced labor. Continue to encourage your favorite companies to follow suit via the Slavery Footprint action center and our Free World App!

You can read the entire FLA-Nestle report here @ http://www.fairlabor.org/affiliate/nestle.

SOURCE: http://blog.slaveryfootprint.org/

CNN video: Jada Pinkett Smith and Human Trafficking

Actress Jada Pinkett Smith talks to CNN about her crusade to end human trafficking and how her 11-year-old daughter spurred her into action. Watch the interview above.

SOURCE: CNN News Room