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Human Trafficking

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The Salvation Army in Greater Columbus is the lead agency in the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition, a collaborative group of Columbus-area organizations working together to stop human trafficking in our community, and to provide services to survivors. Visit the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition Web site for more.

Trafficking means modern-day slavery, when children or adults are forced against their will to labor in substandard conditions or work in the sex trade. Although we usually assume this happens in other countries, it is actually prevalent here in the United States, where the price for labor and prostitution is high, and the trafficker makes more of a profit. In Ohio, there have been many documented cases of traffickers bringing immigrants here, finding them work, and confiscating their wages to satisfy an inflated debt for their ticket to America.

Right here in Columbus, three cases were reported of well-respected foreign nationals from African countries who brought people from overseas with the promise of good jobs as nannies or housecleaners. Once they arrived, they were forced to work excessive hours without pay and were not allowed to leave the house. The victims, afraid of being arrested and deported, complied. And then there are the children and teens who are coerced or outright kidnapped by pimps and initiated into the world of prostitution. In a Michigan case, a 14-yearold girl went out to the movies with a 19- year-old boyfriend, but instead of the movies, he took her away for several days.

He introduced her to a Toledo man who promised to take her home, but instead he beat her and forced her to prostitute herself at several truck stops in Indiana and Pennsylvania, keeping the money for himself. He was later charged and convicted of kidnapping and sex trafficking and sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

The Salvation Army (TSA) has been and continues to be a leader on the issue of human trafficking. Examples of its efforts to eradicate trafficking go back to the early chapters of the organization?s history and include The Salvation Army's successful legal reform campaign to help prevent the trafficking of young girls during the 1880?s in the United Kingdom. Moreover, upon seeing the desperate needs of women and children caught up in organized commercial sexual exploitation, The Salvation Army responded by opening homes for women and girls and developing intensive "Rescue Work." Within thirty years Salvation Army rescue homes grew from one to 117. For more historical perspective - click here.

We are proud to announce that The Salvation Army in Greater Columbus is the Coalition Manager for the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition. This is a collaborative effort among social service agencies, churches, concerned citizens, medical professionals, the FBI, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and other law enforcement associations in the Columbus area. They are all participating in a model that is being replicated around the country. Rescue and Restore was started by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The group strives to increase awareness among the general public, and to educate employers and workers in certain fields where human trafficking may rear its head: the service industry, law enforcement, and the health field, where medical workers may come into contact with victims. Visit the Central Ohio Rescue and Restore Coalition Web site for more.

The Salvation Army serves people in need without discrimination. By putting money to maximum use, The Army provides services, programs and ministries that produce measurable, life-enhancing results.