When you fly Delta Air Lines, you can make a massive difference in the fight against human trafficking.

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month. And in an effort to help passengers better understand the broken systems that leave people and communities vulnerable to traffickers, Delta will feature movies and documentaries* that accurately reflect the realities of sex and labor trafficking.

But Delta is doing more than that. And so can you.

In addition to making the movies and documentaries free to all passengers, Delta will also ask you to join the fight by making a contribution! By donating Delta Sky Miles or donating directly, you help Polaris work with victims and survivors on their exit strategies. Survivors also utilize flights to enter into long-term recovery programs or simply to return home to their families.

Our hope is that by becoming better informed about sex and labor trafficking, Delta’s passengers will feel inspired to DO SOMETHING about it!

Corporate partners like Delta help make our work possible. From training their employees to donating cash and Sky Miles, Delta fuels our response and prevention measures.

Polaris thanks Delta Air Lines for their demonstrated commitment to the cause!

*Polaris and Delta’s Top Picks

• 12 Years a Slave
• Food Chains
• Ghost Fleet
• Girl in Room 13
• I am Jane Doe
• Inside the Hidden Reality of Trafficking in America
• Shattered Dreams: Sex Trafficking in America
• Very Young Girls
• The Workers Cup

Stop human trafficking today

Help fix the broken systems that make trafficking possible so we can prevent it from happening in the first place.

Make a Gift

The post Take Action During Human Trafficking Awareness Month: Polaris and Delta’s Top Picks first appeared on Polaris.

“Human trafficking is a complex and dynamic crime,” said Catherine Chen, CEO of Polaris. “Without an investigation of exactly what happened before migrants were put on a plane and unwittingly used for political gain, it would be irresponsible to accuse anyone of trafficking. 

Human trafficking is a federal crime and has a clear legal definition. Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit other people for financial or personal gain. Despite popular misconception, trafficking has nothing to do with transportation. 

In the context of the events involving migrants transported from Texas and Florida to Martha’s Vineyard and Washington, D.C. Polaris is deeply concerned about reports of fraud. 

Multiple news outlets have reported that migrants who were sent to Martha’s Vineyard were told they were going to be flown to Boston where they had jobs and housing awaiting, or to sanctuary cities because they could ‘get better help there.‘ The Washington Post reported migrants receiving unsigned and erroneous guidance telling them to report their whereabouts to the wrong agency within the Department of Homeland Security. 

These acts of calculated deception were reportedly used to trick migrants onto buses and planes.  Unfortunately, this tactic is one that we know far too well in the anti-trafficking world. Migrants are regularly tricked and defrauded as part of their trafficking experience, with traffickers and exploiters taking advantage of their recent arrival, limited English proficiency, and unfamiliarity with our government systems and labor laws. In a recently released study of 4,000 legal temporary workers in the United States between 2018 to 2020, Polaris found that in 34 percent of cases migrants reported that misrepresentation of destination/work situation was part of their trafficking experience. 

If migrants were defrauded, and if this fraud was intended as a vehicle for anyone’s material gain including that of an elected official, then there is a case for investigating it as trafficking.” 

“The views expressed in this statement are of Polaris alone and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of the National Human Trafficking Hotline or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.”

The post Polaris’s Statement on Recent Immigrant Relocation and Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

The post Systemic Change Matrix: Disrupting and Preventing Human Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

Staying attune to our customers is my job description. I see when someone is shivering and bring them a blanket. I see when someone is struggling with a bag and give them a hand. Most importantly, I see when a passenger is feeling intimidated, uncomfortable, hopeless, manipulated or controlled, and have the opportunity to respond. It is not only my job to ensure the safety of each passenger on and off the airplane, it’s also my job to ensure they can travel in freedom.

Responding to signs of trafficking

Airline professionals have unique opportunities to interface with traffickers or victims before they reach their destination. This year, Delta partnered with Polaris to develop a training that teaches employees about trafficking indicators in the air, on layovers, or in the local community. Delta also donated $1 million to the National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH), which Polaris has operated for over 10 years. Data from the National Hotline has been used to create the training based on real scenarios with survivor input. So far, Delta has trained over 56,000 employees.

Trusting my instincts, my training and my interactions can be all it takes to recognize a potential human trafficking situation. If an individual is travelling alone with no idea where they’re going, who is picking them up, how long their trip is or the purpose of their travel, I want to ensure they can step off the flight into a safe situation. If the companion of a traveler isn’t allowing them to speak, look me in the eye, go to the restroom unaccompanied, or even hold their own ticket, it clues me in to learn more information. Our Operations and Customer Center sometimes may receive as many as 5 reports of Delta people recognizing potential human trafficking indicators on board each day.

I simply observe, gather information, and take the necessary steps to ensure they arrive of their own free will.

Calling customers to #GetOnBoard

While much needs to be done to disrupt traffickers in our skies, there is also a need to #GetOnBoard by providing meaningful support to survivors and victims.

In Polaris’s recent data report, 54 percent of survivors stated that transportation was a barrier in leaving their trafficking situation. Last year, Delta partnered with Polaris to create an opportunity for customers to #GetOnBoard, too. Through SkyWish, customers can donate miles to Polaris that go toward flying survivors home, to reach specialists who provide critical services or to reunite with family. This year alone, 60 flights have been provided to connect survivors’ to safety.

Erica*, an adult potential victim of gang-controlled sex trafficking, was recently supported by Delta mile donations. She was extracted from her situation with the help of law enforcement and a local service provider. The service provider reached out to the NHTH, who supplied miles to purchase a Delta flight for Erica to reunite with her family. The NHTH also connected her to a law enforcement victim advocate and long-term service provider upon her return.

Delta’s ‘line in the sand’

At Delta, our CEO Ed Bastian refers to this as our “line in the sand,” insisting we take action. As Delta employees, we have a unique role to leverage in the fight against human trafficking and the pursuit of freedom. A 2018 report by Polaris also examined how the transportation industry often intersects with trafficking operations and how we can stop traffickers and better support survivors. In the report, 38 percent of the survivors surveyed reported that they flew at least once during their exploitation and another report by Urban Institute found that 71 percent of labor trafficking victims were trafficked into the U.S. on an airplane.

As a flight attendant, I can be a beacon of help to those who reach out or even those who don’t have the chance to. My extended Delta family, 80,000 strong, is positioned to interact with our customers and ask more questions. Together, in over 300 destinations around the globe each day, we can bring a slave to freedom. We engage with customers, stay alert, work together and use our training.

It is an honor to keep each and every passenger safe and to be an advocate for the freedom of each person in my care.

This blog was authored by Sadie Lambert, Delta Air Lines Flight Attendant, Government Affairs team, and #GetOnBoard Ambassador.

Learn more about how the intersection between transportation industries and human trafficking. Stay informed! If you’d like to help make an impact on the lives of human trafficking victims and survivors join our Grassroots Network.

*Note: The identifying details of the case described has been changed to protect the privacy of potential victims.

The post Traveling in Freedom: How Airlines can Play Vital Roles in Fighting Human Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

The ‘Intersections’ report is the follow-up to The Typology of Modern Slavery, which, for the first time, catalogued the 25 primary types of human trafficking business models in the United States by analyzing over 32,000 potential cases from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. If the ‘Typology‘ report examined what human trafficking looked like in the U.S., the Intersections report takes on how to stop it.

In fact, the answer lies with people you wouldn’t immediately expect. An anti-money laundering professional. A local hotel concierge. Your next Uber driver. Facebook. Indeed, this report broadens the circle of who is considered an influential actor in the anti-trafficking field. It’s no longer just anti-trafficking NGOs or law enforcement. Private and public-private businesses have an incredibly unique and powerful role to play. This report focuses on the private and public-private sector because fighting human trafficking will require participation by business and industry partners with resources at a comparable scale to the size of the problem. The fight against human trafficking requires active commitment and effort on the part of these businesses that unwittingly, but regularly intersect with traffickers, victims, and survivors.

The Intersections report uses this matrix to visualize these intersections.

The Intersections report is a collection of the ideas and personal narratives shared with us by survivors of trafficking. The inclusion of diverse survivor voices was a central part of our approach to this report. Through a nationally distributed online survey and focus groups throughout the country, supplemented by data from the National Hotline, we learned from survivors about how their traffickers leveraged legitimate businesses and what recommendations they had for what could be done to make things better.  Insights from approximately 130 different survivors have contributed to the report!

Social Media

“Technology is being used [to hurt us]. Why can’t we use technology as a way to get resources to survivors?”

Most people think only sex trafficking have recruitment origins online. In fact, supervisors in traveling sales crews (a common labor trafficking type) may post flashy pictures on social media depicting stacks of cash and a party lifestyle to try to entice new victims to join their crews. Survivors are incredibly saavy and may use social media to coordinate their own escape by communicating through private messages with friends, family, and service providers. Once out of their situations, survivors rely on social media spaces for their continued safety, to rebuild their social relationships, and to connect, and share solidarity with other survivor leaders.

How can social media platforms help?

• Implement innovative safety features the could help survivors stay safe, such as disappearing messages and passcode protected folders or photo albums, as well as defaulting to “opt-in” options instead of requiring users to “opt out” when rolling out new features.

• Enable targeted ads for anti-trafficking organizations to intelligently offer sponsored posts connecting potential victims to resources and help.

• Learn more about social media’s intersections here.

Financial Services Industry

“Everything was put in my name with [my trafficker] as a co-signer, since [my trafficker] used a fake name, when I escaped, everything faulted back on me.”

Almost all survivors in Polaris focus groups reported that their trafficker(s) would use a victim’s name on a bank account or credit card to avoid putting their own name on paper. This tactic not only hides the potential financial crimes committed by the trafficker, it has lasting and devastating effects on survivors who have their credit and banking histories ruined. Traffickers can hide their criminal profits through a registered business because of a loophole in the U.S. that doesn’t require business owners to disclose the people who actually make money from the business.

How can the financial services industry help?

• Assist survivors in rebuilding their economic portfolio by providing access to financial services, such as simple bank accounts, reasonable credit cards, or microloans to help build credit.

• The federal government should enact legislation requiring every registered business to disclose their beneficial owner, and that, at the very least, that information should be available to law enforcement.

• Learn more about the financial services industry’s intersections here.

Hotels & Motels

“If I would have seen [the Hotline number] all the times that I just got beat up… I mean, I’ve had some really bad experiences in hotel rooms, and if I had seen something like that I would have called it.”

The National Human Trafficking Hotline has received 3,596 cases of human trafficking which have a connection with a hotel or motel business. Beyond sex trafficking in escort services, sales crews can utilize hotels to house victims during travel, and housekeepers working for a hotel subcontractor can also be victims of labor trafficking.

How can hotels and motels help?

• Ensure the National Human Trafficking Hotline is posted or available on-site (including within hotel rooms) to alert victims that help is available.

• Adopt policies to directly hire employees whenever possible. The more removed or tenuous an employment relationship is, the more vulnerable workers are to abuse. If it is not possible for a business to directly hire all personnel, Polaris strongly recommends hotel management thoroughly research subcontractors’ recruitment and business practices and create enforceable oversight systems.

• Learn more about hotels’ and motels’ intersections here.

Transportation

I don’t drive so I relied on public transportation when I left my trafficker and having access to it where I lived helped economically with me leaving the situation.

Traffickers in sex and labor trafficking use long-distance buses like Greyhound, trains, rideshare apps, and airlines to initially transport victims into their trafficking situations, as well as move them throughout the country during their exploitation. In Polaris’s survivor survey, 54 percent of survivors noted that access to transportation was a barrier to their leaving their situation.

How can the transportation industry help?

• Provide travel vouchers or points donations to anti-trafficking organizations to help survivors actually get free from their trafficking situations and to critical resources they need to rebuild their lives.

• Learn more about transportation intersections here.

Health Care

“Since I was often taken to different doctors and to the ER to treat trafficking related injuries, I wish that someone would have taken me aside and asked those [screening questions] or even asked me if I was okay…”

Sixty-nine percent of survivors in Polaris’s survey stated they had access to health services at some time during their exploitation. Survivors in Polaris focus groups described feeling discriminated against or judged by health care professionals during their trafficking. While greater empathy and awareness is improving in this field, this poor treatment has had lasting effects on some survivors’ trust with their health care provider.

How can the healthcare industry help?

• Create and implement a trauma-informed care and training protocol for all health facility staff, bolstered by posting the National Hotline number where it can be discreetly accessed by at-risk patients.

• Urge Congress to pass the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (S.O.A.R.) to Health and Wellness Act to reauthorize and expand funding to ensure that health care and related professionals have access to comprehensive training and technical assistance to help trafficking victims.

• Learn more about the healthcare industry’s intersections here.

Housing & Homelessness Systems

“When I got out of the trafficking I was put immediately by state patrol into a domestic violence shelter. It was the only shelter where I was from. I was their very first trafficking victim.”

Emergency shelter makes up 47% of all crisis requests to the National Hotline but is sometimes the most difficult service to secure – especially for survivors of labor trafficking, male victims, and victims who identify as LGBTQ+. Some trafficking business models such as residential brothels, and even labor trafficking types which rely on migrant workers, rent private homes to house victims and facilitate their exploitative businesses.

What can housing and/or homelessness systems do to help?

• Include victims of human trafficking as a target population for domestic violence shelters. When a trafficking-specific shelter is not available, domestic violence shelters are the best suited out of any other institution to fill the gaps. Domestic violence shelters will need additional resources to do so, and some will need to revamp certain policies to meet the needs of both populations.

• Include basic rights and protections into standard lease agreements explicitly protecting survivors of human trafficking from housing discrimination, eviction, or other punishment based on their status or history as a victim of crime.

• Learn more about housing and homelessness systems’ intersections here.

We were so proud to unveil this research to the world through a panel event on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC last week and streamed the event on Facebook Live, too!  Nationally renowned experts in some of the above industries joined us to discuss how their industries are advancing anti-trafficking goals, supporting survivors, and most importantly, the opportunities for further improvement.

Traffickers are depending on the inaction from businesses to continue using them with impunity. Survivors are depending on those same systems to recognize them and offer a pathway to recovery. When we released the Typology, we said it would offer a roadmap for taking the next steps in creating a world without slavery. The new Intersections report outlines those next steps. But we need to take them together.

If you’re a professional in any one of these industries and want to learn more about working with Polaris, please contact corporateengagement@polarisproject.org. 

The post New Report Provides Roadmap for Industries to Join the Fight Against Human Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

Specifically, the analysis explores how the financial services, social media, transportation, hospitality, housing, and health care industries are being used during recruitment of victims into trafficking situations, as well as means for continued control. Critically, it also spotlights how survivors can use these systems along their path of recovery—as long as opportunities to do so are made readily available.

Click here to read, On-Ramps, Intersections, and Exit Routes: A Roadmap for Systems and Industries to Prevent and Disrupt Human Trafficking.

“Human trafficking is a $150 billion a year global industry and can’t be fully addressed without businesses taking active and effective measures to reduce the potential for exploitation within their own systems,” said Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris. “The more that is known about the business plans of traffickers and how they intersect with legitimate systems, the more possible it becomes to disrupt the crime and prevent traffickers from using the business sector to exploit people in the first place.”

In addition to the deep analysis of each sector, the report highlights crucial areas in need of improvement, including steps that each sector should take:

Financial Services Industry

• Assist survivors in rebuilding their economic portfolio by providing access to financial services, such as simple bank accounts and reasonable credit cards, to help build credit.

• Pass legislation to allow for transparency of corporate beneficial ownership. Traffickers use this lack of disclosure to set up complex money laundering schemes and otherwise hide the true nature of their activities. The federal government should enact legislation requiring every registered business to disclose their beneficial owner, and that, at the very least, that information should be available to law enforcement.

Social Media

• Implement innovative safety features the could benefit survivors, such as disappearing messages and passcode protected folders or photo albums, as well as defaulting to “opt-in” options instead of requiring users to “opt out” when rolling out new features that could be used to stalk or harm survivors (such as geo-location services).

• Enable targeted ads for anti-human trafficking organizations to intelligently offer sponsored posts connecting potential victims and survivors to resources and help.

Transportation

• Provide travel vouchers or points donations to fill a glaring lack of transportation options available to survivors, both to help them actually get free from their trafficking situations and, equally importantly, to provide them with transportation to critical resources they need to rebuild their lives.

Hospitality

• Adopt policies to directly hire employees whenever possible. The more removed or tenuous an employment relationship is, the more vulnerable workers are to abuse, including debt bondage, threats, and other severe labor violations. If it is not possible for a business to directly hire all personnel, Polaris strongly recommends hotel owners and management thoroughly research subcontractors’ recruitment and business practices and create enforceable oversight systems.

Housing

• Include victims of human trafficking as a target population for domestic violence shelters. When a trafficking-specific shelter is not available, domestic violence shelters are the best suited out of any other institution to fill the gaps. Domestic violence shelters will need additional resources to do so, and some will need to revamp certain policies to meet the needs of both populations.

• Include housing protections in lease agreements for survivors. Landlords and residential management companies should include basic rights and protections into standard lease agreements protecting survivors of human trafficking from housing discrimination, eviction, or other punishment based on their status or history as a victim of crime. These include, for example, the right to have locks changed or other reasonable security enhancements and the right to break a lease without penalty with adequate documentation of their victim status. This mirrors a requirement currently in place for all HUD housing programs for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking as outlined in the 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).   

Health care

• Create and implement a trauma-informed care and training protocol for health facility staff, bolstered by efforts to put information about seeking help through the National Human Trafficking Hotline and other resources in hospital waiting rooms, restrooms, and other frequently visited areas.

• Urge Congress to pass the Stop, Observe, Ask, and Respond (S.O.A.R.) to Health and Wellness Act to reauthorize and expand funding to ensure that health care and related professionals have access to comprehensive training and technical assistance to help trafficking victims.

This report builds upon Polaris’s 2017 report, The Typology of Modern Slavery, which analyzed data gleaned from nearly 10 years of operating the National Human Trafficking Hotline to show that human trafficking in the United States consists of 25 distinct business models.

The information about how each of these systems and industries are exploited by trafficking business models comes from extensive surveys of and focus groups with survivors of all types of human trafficking, as well as from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. These recommendations are also not intended to be conclusive. They are not definitive scientific conclusions, but rather valuable baseline narratives that can spark further exploration and collaboration from other sectors.

People can be connected to help or report a tip of suspected human trafficking by calling the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, texting “BeFree” (233733), or chatting at www.humantraffickinghotline.org.

###

About Polaris
Polaris is a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in the U.S., Polaris acts as a catalyst to systemically disrupt the human trafficking networks that rob human beings of their lives and their freedom. By working with government leaders, the world’s leading technology corporations, and local partners, Polaris equips communities to identify, report, and prevent human trafficking. Our comprehensive model puts victims at the center of what we do – helping survivors restore their freedom, preventing more victims, and leveraging data and technology to pursue traffickers wherever they operate. Learn more at www.polarisproject.org.

The post New Report Identifies Business Sector Intersections to Human Trafficking first appeared on Polaris.

Delta’s sponsorship will ensure Polaris can staff the call center with experienced “Hotline Advocates.” With more calls coming in from survivors than ever, funding will help modernize the National Hotline and optimize the technology needed to provide the most effective and efficient service.

“The work of Polaris and the National Human Trafficking Hotline are integral to fighting human trafficking where we live and fly,” said Allison Ausband, Delta’s Senior Vice President – In-Flight Service. “A single call can protect a victim or change their entire trajectory, and that’s not to be taken lightly.”

The work of Polaris is pivotal to Delta’s proactive strategy to fight human trafficking and end modern slavery. Since 2011, when Delta was the first airline to sign the End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT) Code of Conduct, the global carrier has trained over 54,000 employees to spot indicators of human trafficking and supports anti-trafficking legislation across the U.S. Delta also gives customers the opportunity to donate SkyMiles through Polaris and the SkyWish program, which helps survivors seek a safe place, return to their homes, or receive critical or legal care.

“We are honored to partner with Delta Air Lines in such a profound way and are beyond grateful for their support of the National Human Trafficking Hotline,” said Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris. “Delta is a leader in the fight against human trafficking, working tirelessly to provide human trafficking training to their employees to help spot this crime and equipping survivors with resources they need to rebuild their lives.”

The National Hotline has been operated by Polaris for almost 10 years and has handled 38,000 cases of human trafficking. Since January, more than 6,100 cases have been reported, with a 10 percent increase in cases reported directly from survivors. The Hotline can be reached 24 hours, 365 days a year and in more than 200 different languages.

As part of the sponsorship, Polaris will also build upon the extensive training Delta provides to employees by developing new training and webinars, while tailoring the Hotline’s internal protocols to respond to questions and tips provided directly from Delta employees.

People can receive help or report a tip of suspected human trafficking in the United States by calling the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or by sending a text to Polaris at “BeFree” (233733).

###

About Delta
Delta Air Lines serves more than 180 million customers each year. In 2017, Delta was named to Fortune’s top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the sixth time in seven years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented six consecutive years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 315 destinations in 54 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs more than 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry’s leading transatlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Seoul, and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, global products and services, and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on the Delta News Hub, as well as delta.com, Twitter @DeltaNewsHub, Google.com/+Delta, and Facebook.com/delta.

About Polaris
Polaris is a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in the U.S., Polaris acts as a catalyst to systemically disrupt the human trafficking networks that rob human beings of their lives and their freedom. By working with government leaders, the world’s leading technology corporations, and local partners, Polaris equips communities to identify, report, and prevent human trafficking. Our comprehensive model puts victims at the center of what we do – helping survivors restore their freedom, preventing more victims, and leveraging data and technology to pursue traffickers wherever they operate. Learn more at www.polarisproject.org. Follow Polaris on Facebook and on Twitter.

The post Delta contributes $1M to Polaris, Supports National Human Trafficking Hotline first appeared on Polaris.

We don’t need to tell you that $1 million is a lot of money. So, what does this mean for the Hotline and how are we planning on using it?

Every day, Hotline Advocates answer about 200 calls on the National Human Trafficking Hotline. In 2016 alone, the Hotline answered 26,727 calls referencing 7,621 potential cases of human trafficking. And that call volume is growing every year—we received 21,947 calls in 2015. As people around the U.S. learn more about the crime of human trafficking and that they can receive help or report tips through the National Hotline, the number of calls we receive and the number of victims and survivors who are connected to help increases.

But, just as with many other life-saving tools, operating the National Hotline takes time and resources. And as call volume increases, more and more resources are needed to accommodate those calls and ensure we are operating the Hotline to its fullest potential and helping as many survivors as possible. This means that we at Polaris depend on generous support from individuals, companies, and government entities to help us meet those needs.

We need to make sure that our technology and infrastructure are fully upgraded, that our Hotline Advocates are trained and supported, and that we can help victims and survivors access support and services whenever and wherever they need it. This new funding from Delta is crucial because it will ensure that we are able to fully staff the Hotline with highly trained Hotline Advocates, modernize our systems, and optimize our technology.

In addition to bolstering the operations side of the National Hotline, Delta’s donation will also directly support survivors in need. While there are countless people across the country who are trying their hardest to serve victims of trafficking, there are still gaps in services that need to be filled. Victim services, law enforcement efforts, and prevention work are all chronically underfunded. Delta’s donation, as well as the SkyMiles donations from Delta customers, will help to fill these gaps by providing opportunities for trafficking victims and survivors to travel where they wouldn’t have been able to before.

The ability to travel can make a huge difference—victims and survivors often need to travel, but can’t afford airfare or other forms of commercial transportation. With these donated miles and increased capacity on the Hotline, we’ll be able to help survivors leave their trafficking situations, return to their homes, reunite with family members, and receive critical or legal services.

But Delta isn’t just giving us a donation…

They’re doing much more! Delta isn’t new to the anti-trafficking field. In fact, they are leading their industry in efforts to combat the crime. Since 2011, Delta has trained over 54,000 of their employees on how to recognize and respond to trafficking on airplanes and in airports, and they regularly support anti-trafficking legislation across the United States. As part of this new partnership, we’re helping Delta build upon their anti-trafficking training so we can teach even more of their employees how to identify indicators of human trafficking and report them to the Hotline — both in their work and in their everyday lives.

With this new partnership, Delta is taking their commitment to fighting human trafficking to the next level. With their donation, they are making a critical contribution that will directly support trafficking victims and survivors.

Allison Ausband, who is the Senior Vice President of In-flight Services for Delta, said it best: “[a] single call can protect a victim or change their entire trajectory, and that’s not to be taken lightly.”

Photo credit: Rank Studios

The post We Just Partnered with Delta Air Lines and That’s Great News for Survivors first appeared on Polaris.

The estimated $150 billion a year trafficking industry forces approximately 20.9 million people worldwide to live in modern day slavery. In 2016, human trafficking was reported in all 50 states—with 198 cases of human trafficking reported to the National Hotline from Illinois, a 64 percent increase over all of 2015 when 121 cases were reported. In total, the National Hotline has received reports of 941 cases of human trafficking from Illinois since 2007.

In a news conference earlier today held in downtown Chicago, Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti was joined by Deputy Governor Leslie Munger, Senator Karen McConnaughay, Illinois State Police Director Leo Schmitz, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director George Sheldon, National Hotline Director for Polaris, Caroline Diemar and Carlos San Jose, President, CCOA-Chicago, with local and state law enforcement officials to speak with an audience of reporters and supporters to underscore the need for preventing and combatting human trafficking across the state of Illinois and the country.

Governor Bruce Rauner signed HB 2822 which takes action in combatting human trafficking across Illinois. It established a human trafficking task force comprised of legislators, members of the Chicago Regional Human Trafficking Task Force and the Director of the Illinois State Police. It also helps protect victims who often have language barriers, emotional challenges or economic hardships by creating a Task Force to look at how the State of Illinois can partner with agencies across the state to counter these egregious offenses of human exploitation. The Task Force shall submit a report with its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before June 30, 2017.

“Human trafficking is unacceptable,” said Governor Rauner. “That is why we must fight to bring it to an end here in Illinois. Our administration proudly signed legislation creating a Task Force to combat human trafficking, and we are working every day to protect victims. Together, we can put an end to human trafficking.”

“People exploited in forms of modern slavery are receiving help and services to rebuild their lives every day in America, including throughout Illinois. From the young man exploited in a peddling ring who can now be connected to a jobs program to the woman forced into a commercial-front brothel who has access to counseling and therapy support, survivors are reaching out to the National Human Trafficking Hotline more than ever,” said Caroline Diemar, Polaris’s National Hotlines Director. “Too often, though, survivors aren’t aware the National Hotline exists or that they can be connected to a network of support across the country. Illinois’s awareness campaign is critical to ensuring survivors of sex and labor trafficking get the help they need.”

“We are so proud to partner with Polaris and Governor Rauner to help the victims of human trafficking across the state of Illinois,” said Carlos San Jose, President, CCOA – Chicago. “Those who fall victim to human trafficking might think it’s too late or might not know there’s support available to help them rebuild their lives and we want to send a clear message to the Chicago community that it’s never too late to reach out for help. I am truly thankful to Governor Rauner for all the work he has done to raise awareness of this modern slavery and his ongoing support, along with Polaris’ continued efforts, are crucial to helping bring survivors to safety.”

Three years ago, Polaris and CCOA forged a national partnership to combat human trafficking with campaigns in cities across America. CCOA launched its first anti-human trafficking campaign alongside Polaris in Philadelphia in 2012, and has since supported campaigns with Polaris and/or local partners in Baltimore, Iowa, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle, and across the state of Texas. This is CCOA’s 21st anti-human trafficking campaign and data show that the campaigns drive calls to the hotline, including tips and requests by victims for help. And this latest billboard campaign will deliver over 16 million impressions over its four-week span in Chicago.

The National Hotline is operated by Polaris, and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other private donors. The National Hotline (1-888-373-7888) is a confidential, multilingual service that connects survivors of all forms of human trafficking to nationwide available services to get help and stay safe. It also provides the anti-trafficking community with actionable tips and insights. By offering a robust 24/7 infrastructure and sharing data and resources, the National Hotline unites local efforts into a national movement that is helping survivors restore their freedom and eradicating human trafficking at scale.

 ### 

About Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc., (NYSE: CCO) is one of the world’s largest outdoor advertising companies, with more than 650,000 displays in over 35 countries across five continents, including 43 of the 50 largest markets in the United States. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings offers many types of displays across its global platform to meet the advertising needs of its customers. This includes a growing digital platform that now offers over 1,100 digital billboards across 29 U.S. markets. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings’ International segment operates in 19 countries across Asia and Europe in a wide variety of formats. More information is available at www.clearchanneloutdoor.com and www.clearchannelinternational.com. 

About Polaris
Polaris is a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery. Named after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in the U.S., Polaris acts as a catalyst to systemically disrupt the human trafficking networks that rob human beings of their lives and their freedom. By working with government leaders, the world’s leading technology corporations, and local partners, Polaris equips communities to identify, report, and prevent human trafficking. Our comprehensive model puts victims at the center of what we do – helping survivors restore their freedom, preventing more victims, and leveraging data and technology to pursue traffickers wherever they operate. Learn more at www.polarisproject.org.

The post State of Illinois, Polaris and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas Launch Anti-Human Trafficking Digital Billboard Campaign Across Chicago first appeared on Polaris.

For years, we have been staring at an incomplete chess game, moving pieces without seeing hidden squares or fully understanding the power relationships between players. The Typology of Modern Slavery, our blurry understanding of the scope of the crime is now coming into sharper focus.

Polaris analyzed more than 32,000 cases of human trafficking documented between December 2007 and December 2016 through its operation of the National Human Trafficking Hotline and BeFree Textline—the largest data set on human trafficking in the United States ever compiled and publicly analyzed. Polaris’s research team analyzed the data and developed a classification system that identifies 25 types of human trafficking in the United States. Each has its own business model, trafficker profiles, recruitment strategies, victim profiles, and methods of control that facilitate human trafficking.

The post The Typology of Modern Slavery: Defining Sex and Labor Trafficking in the United States first appeared on Polaris.