Jennifer Dreher, the senior director of the anti-trafficking program at Safe Horizon, said that some of their staff members assist with the campaign in the mayor’s office. Dreher points out one of the disheartening realities about victims: “Less than 1 percent come out and say, ‘I am a victim.’ They don’t know how to describe what is happening to them.” In terms of awareness and avenues of redress, she likens it to what domestic violence was 30 years ago.
Dreher is particular about the language used to describe victims, aiming for inclusive terms that include the many forms of coerced travel and labor. The people she serves in NYC reflect a different story than what is generally thought of as human trafficking or even sex trafficking. The majority of her clients are women, with 60 percent trafficked in some form of labor – which can mean stripping, sexualized labor, or being bailarinas—women forced to dance in bars, accompany patrons and encourage them to spend more money that goes to the house. About one-third are in forced prostitution, with 5 percent in other forms including servile marriages.
Anti-trafficking activists say the crime flourishes because it hides in plain sight: among the blatant sex ads in some publications and the eager busboys in restaurants are men and women forced into servitude against their will.
To report a case of human trafficking call the city at 311 or Safe Horizon’s hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE.
