By Chitara Ellis, Contributing Writer
Backed by the state’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Georgia has created a task force to counter human trafficking efforts within the state. Officially called the Georgia Human Trafficking Task Force, it takes a holistic and unified approach in its mission to “protect the citizens of Georgia from perpetrators and systems of sexual exploitation while concurrently working to support recovery of adult and CSEC (commercial sexual exploitation of children) victims to ensure they are ready for college, work, and a successful future.”
According to a fact sheet released in 2013 from the Center for Public Policy Studies, 374 girls are sexually exploited per month in Georgia. In 2012, the center received over 400 calls from Georgia, over 100 of them being high risk. Typically, young girls are brought into the state’s sex trafficking market at 12 or 14 years old. These children often have a history of truancy and running away from home.
A report published by the council in 2014 makes four recommendations to better serve victims within the state: 1) a more efficient way of collecting and tracking data on victims, 2) a more efficient way of identifying victims and availability of services to them, 3) collaboration across agencies in victim assistance training, and 4) educating and bringing awareness to communities about what makes a person a victim and the help that is available to them.
The newly created task force appears to have taken note of these recommendations. The task force includes representatives from various levels of government, law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations, and they make their quarterly meetings open to the public. They have nine objectives, with nine work groups designated to meet each one: 1) community awareness and education, 2) youth awareness and safety, 3) deterring traffickers and buyers, 4) keeping at-risk youth safe, 5) apprehending, investigating and prosecuting traffickers and buyers, 6) examining underserved and/or previously identified victims, 7) protecting and supporting survivors, 8) helping survivors recover and thrive, and 9) examining domestic adult sex trafficking.
The task force’s website portal offers training and educational resources to the public. One of the educational resources listed is a free training series created by Georgia Cares, a nonprofit that serves young victims statewide. The other available resource on the site is the task force’s Technical Assistance Resource Guide on Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention, which was created by work group no. 2 of the task force and is designed for schools and youth programs. The third available resource listed is a downloadable Know the Signs flyer.
One Bread Foundation, Inc. also offers resources to the public for engaging in the abolishment of child sex trafficking across the United States. Help raise awareness of this issue by sharing this article with your friends and family and subscribe to our newsletter for monthly updates and news straight to your inbox. To sign up, simply enter your email in the footer of any page on our website at one-bread.org.