While “all eyes are on us” in the coming weeks with FIFA World Cup activity, the issue of human trafficking will persist even after visitors have returned home, said Detective Sgt. Ehtasham “Izzy” Chaudhry of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.
“We are not going to stop when FIFA is over, we are going to continue,” he said. “Even though right now we are being hyper vigilant, we will and we have to continue combatting human trafficking.”
The World Cup begins June 11, and matches are being hosted in the region, beginning with Brazil v. Morocco June 11 in East Rutherford, and Côte d’Ivoire vs Ecuador June 14 in Philadelphia. The July 19 final will also be in East Rutherford.
In preparation, on June 9 the New Jersey Catholic Conference, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference hosted a webinar, “Human Trafficking and Major Sporting Events.” It featured faith leaders, law enforcement representatives, an elected official and an advocate working to fight sexual and labor exploitation.
Kathleen Friess, program and training coordinator for the Human Trafficking Unit in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice, emphasized that “anyone can be a lifesaver,” when it comes to human trafficking.
Friess coordinates training for agencies across New Jersey, including law enforcement as well as prosecutors, paramedics, code enforcement officials, the faith community, casinos, and any other organizations that might encounter human trafficking victims. She noted the particular concerns around labor exploitation surrounding the World Cup matches and the fanfare they will bring with them.
“These events are expected to bring more than 1 million visitors to the region,” she said. “Although we have the experience of preparing for the Super Bowl, someone said this is the Super Bowl on steroids. We cannot fathom the type of impact this is going to have, in many ways.”
She noted that outreach efforts have also included posting flyers raising awareness and sharing information about resources in every restroom stall at East Rutherford’s MetLife Stadium to try to reach those in need.
Catholic Social Teaching
Felicitas Brugo Onetti, anti-trafficking education and outreach coordinator with USCCB’s Migration and Refugee Services, told webinar participants, “Large-scale sporting events bring influxes of visitors, temporary workers and cash flow, which can increase vulnerabilities to human trafficking.
“Trafficking does not occur because of the event itself, but events can intensify existing trafficking patterns already present in host communities,” she said. “Risk factors include increased demand for commercial sex, informal labor markets, crowded transportation hubs and limited community awareness.”
Onetti emphasized that fighting human trafficking and the commitment to end slavery in all forms are deeply entrenched in Catholic social teaching. She also noted the estimated 49.6 million people who – at any time – live in conditions of slavery and human trafficking globally.
Part of Chaudhry’s work involves leading his office’s Interfaith Advisory Council, and he emphasized the key role that faith leaders and communities can play in raising awareness about trafficking.
“The Catholic Church is the largest faith-based community here in the State of New Jersey,” he said. “I truly believe that faith leaders are community leaders and have a lot of influence in the community. They are able to get out messages that are important.”
Identifying victims
Theresa Flores, a social worker and a human trafficking survivor, launched the SOAP Project – “Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution” – after she, at the age of 40, realized that she had been a victim herself as a teenager. She emphasized that victims can be anywhere and may be hard to identify.
“I also went to church, I also went to school,” she said of the two-year period when she was being trafficked. Flores said a waitress at a hotel restaurant noticed she was in distress and asked her if she was alright – and ended up saving her.
Today, her organization works to raise awareness of the prevalence of human trafficking, in part through distributing soap in packages labeled with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number to hotels and motels to offer victims a discrete way to find out how to seek help. Her organization recently received a boost from students at Donovan Catholic High School, Toms River, who labeled some 2,000 bars of soaps that will be distributed to shore motels in the days and weeks to come.
“We do this around big sporting events a lot of times, because we know demand for sex for sale is going to quadruple during that event,” she said, noting that her organization has worked in the host cities for 15 Super Bowls. “If traffickers are going to be there, and bring victims, we want to be there, too.”
Friess joined others on the webinar in encouraging anyone who suspects they have observed a form of human trafficking to contact authorities – even if they cannot prove what is happening.
“You are never going to be 100 percent sure,” she said. “The people who claim to be experts can never be 100 percent sure at the get go. It takes time.”
Tips or leads regarding possible human trafficking can be shared by calling (855) End-NJ-HT. You can also access Department of Labor resources at www.NJ.gov/labor/worldcup, and resources for victims by contacting Covenant House New Jersey at (862) 240-2453.
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, you can contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1 (888) 373-7888 or by visiting https://humantraffickinghotline.org/.
