Stopping Demand: What About The Victims?
Recently, I attended a church training session about human trafficking. The training covered all aspects of human trafficking, including sex trafficking. One of the main points the speaker made was that sex trafficking will never be abolished by attempts to rescue victims and that stopping demand was the only way to end it. But what about the victims already trapped in “the life?” Do we just forget about them?
Stopping Demand: The Nordic Model
To a great extent, I agree with what the event speaker said. In a previous post, I discussed what is known as “The Nordic Model.” In this model, the purchase of sex, rather than the selling of sex, is made illegal. According to the website nordicmodelnow.org:
The Nordic Model approach to prostitution (sometimes also known as the Sex Buyer Law, or the Swedish, Abolitionist, or Equality Model) decriminalizes all those who are prostituted, provides support services to help them exit, and makes buying people for sex a criminal offence, in order to reduce the demand that drives sex trafficking. This approach has now been adopted in Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Canada, France, and most recently, Ireland.
And this approach has met with success. It has shown that if the demand goes away, the incentive for selling sex goes with it.
What About The Victims?
While I don’t argue that stopping demand is, in the long run, the only real solution to the problem of sex trafficking, I’m still left with a burning question: What happens to all those victims who are still trapped? Do we just focus on only demand and forget about them? Personally, I could not live with that.
My reason for wanting to save the victims of sex trafficking is similar to my reason for being pro-life. I believe in the concept of “Imago Dei,” that all people are created in the image of God. This means every human being is worth saving. All forms of human trafficking assume the opposite: that human beings are only worth the profit that can be made from exploitating them, whether for labor, sex, or otherwise. The “person” doesn’t matter to them, just the money. But Imago Dei says that every woman, girl, man, and boy is worth saving.
Rescuing The Victims
Being driven by my belief in Imago Dei, my personal solution was to join an organization focused on the victims themselves. Out of Darkness, the anti-trafficking ministry of the Atlanta Dream Center, has a mission that resonates with me: “To Reach Rescue, and Restore all victims of commercial sexual exploitation that the glory of God may be known.” In a previous post, I outlined the various programs utilized by Out Of Darkness to reach out to victims, rescue them if called to, and restore their life and dignity.
We don’t ignore the concept of stopping demand, though. Out of Darkness volunteers (both Katie and myself volunteer in different capacities) speak all over metro Atlanta and Georgia, educating groups and individuals about the evils of trafficking, how to recognize it, and how to stop it. We know that the long term goal is that no person is exploited for sex.
As for me, I know that the mountain that must be climbed to end commercial sexual exploitation is very high, and that there are many obstacles to success. But, I remind myself constantly that Imago Dei means that even if my actions help one person, they were worth the effort.
Different Approaches To The Problem
In conclusion, I wanted to briefly mention some of the organizations involved in the fight against trafficking, to highlight the many different ways in which you can join the fight:
∙ Out Of Darkness (Georgia, Columbus, OH): outreach, rescue, restoration, education.
∙ Wellspring Living (Atlanta): victim restoration and outreach.
∙ Shared Hope International (SHI): fights in the legal arena, provides the state report cards detailing each state’s progress in the fight against trafficking.
∙ Street Grace: focuses on stopping demand
∙ International Justice Mission (IJM): operates worldwide seeking justice and rescue for victims.
∙ Nordic Model Now: provides information about the Nordic Model and why it works.
Worldwide, there are over 20 million human beings trapped in slavery. They need you help, and there is a place for you in the fight. See the “Important Links” section of this blog for a list of the many organizations that need support and volunteers.
Matt