Dignity Coconuts was born in 2010 and is a social enterprise with a mission to stop modern-day slavery for coconut farming communities. Years of nonprofit work fighting trafficking revealed many of the women were trafficked from poor rural farming areas. The coconut industry uses predatory loans and corrupt buying practices to enslave farmers, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking.
Erik Olson, USA President of Dignity Coconuts, highlights what they are doing to help fight modern day slavery.
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Jay Benke is an abduction and child sex trafficking survivor located in Oregon. As a person whose disabilities and LGBTQ2IA+ identity intersect with her survivorship, she brings a unique perspective as she serves the community. She specializes in advocacy for the disabled, trafficked children and youth, victims of intimate partner violence, people experiencing houselessness, and victims who have been incarcerated. The focus of her work ranges from criminal justice reform to demand reduction to survivor equity and inclusion to harm reduction and trauma-informed care.
When I asked her to come on my show, I asked what she wanted to cover and Jay responded, "to talk about trauma from buyers for both prostituted people and for their partners and children, and how by not holding buyers accountable, we make it harder for the abused partners of buyers to leave."
Listen in on a robust conversation!
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Go to https://justicehopefreedom.com/ to learn more about fighting and preventing sex trafficking.
Vanessa Russell, Founder of Love Never Fails in California. Love Never Fails formed in December 2011 after the Founder's teenage dance student experienced human trafficking in the SF Bay Area. They are committed to the well-being of all youth and driven to restore, educate and protect them from sex trafficking.
Their approach addresses a survivor's needs on their journey to safety and wholeness. On a call Vanessa and I were both on with World Without Exploitation, I learned through hearing her share that there is a push to legalize sex work in San Francisco, California and to have red light districts.
Learn more about Love Never Fails at https://www.loveneverfailsus.com/
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Go to https://justicehopefreedom.com/ to learn more about fighting and preventing sex trafficking.
I have the pleasure of welcoming to the show Traci Rossi, Executive Director of Friends of the Children, Portland Chapter. Traci has over 20 years of nonprofit leadership experience with an emphasis in education, community outreach, and service to girls, women, children, and families. Traci was recently named a 2020 Woman of Influence by the Portland Business Journal.
Friends of the Children’s mission is to “Impact generational change by empowering youth who are facing the greatest obstacles through relationships with professional mentors for 12+ years. No matter what.” This literally changes lives and generations. Learn more at https://friendspdx.org/.
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Go to https://justicehopefreedom.com/ to learn more about fighting and preventing sex trafficking.
Claire Barrera an artist, activist and educator based in Portland, Oregon. They have worked in the anti-violence movement for over 20 years. Currently they work as the Sex Trafficking Senior Strategist with Multnomah County and organize with Brown Girl Rise.
In 2009, Multnomah County established the Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Collaborative which is a network of government, not-for-profit agencies, and community members that collaborate to create a coordinated system to prevent and respond to sex trafficking. The goal of the Sex Trafficking Collaborative is to create a survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and sustainable system wide response to address sex trafficking of youth and young adults in Multnomah County. To learn more about what is happening in Multnomah County and the city of Portland regarding sex trafficking, please visit the Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Collaborative’s website.
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Go to https://justicehopefreedom.com/ to learn more about fighting and preventing sex trafficking.
Katelynn Spencer is a survivor-leader in the fight against image-based sexual abuse.
Her personal fight for justice began upon finding out that a friend, who groomed her into making a sex video with him, uploaded it and another one she was unaware that he had recorded, onto Pornhub, a global pornography platform, without her consent. The videos had been downloaded, favorited, and commented on – all without her knowledge.
One charge was eventually filed against her friend – “Distribution of Obscene Material” – but the case was dismissed, in part because Massachusetts has no law against uploading non-consensual, pornographic material. (Massachusetts is one of only two states that have yet to enact laws against image-based sexual abuse.)
We discuss the PROTECT Act, which would require age and consent verification of those depicted in sexually explicit or intimate materials online, as an imperative step forward in human rights.
Learn more about The Protect Act here https://endsexualexploitation.org/articles/protect-act-will-aid-victims-of-image-based-sexual-abuse-against-big-porn/
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjQPnkFAIrV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Go to https://justicehopefreedom.com/ to learn more about fighting and preventing sex trafficking.
Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director with Rights4Girls shares about their work to advocate for the dignity and rights of young women and girls so that every girl can be safe and live a life free of violence and exploitation.
Yasmin has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the need for legislative reform for girls in the legal system.
Learn more about Rights4Girls and sign-up for their newsletter at https://rights4girls.org/. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
Read about the Sex Abuse to Prison Pipeline
To sponsor a podcast, email me at a.livingston@worldventure.com or to donate click here.
Go to https://justicehopefreedom.com/ to learn more about fighting and preventing sex trafficking.
Multnomah County Commissioner, Susheela Jayapal; Claire Barrera Program Manager at El Programa Hispano’s UNICA and Joyclyn Bell a survivor and activist join me for this important conversation about Oregon Senate Bill 274.
Introduction: Charging children with prostitution is counter to our values as a community. Given that children cannot, by law, consent to sex, it is inherently contradictory to criminalize them for prostitution. They are experiencing a crime, and should not be treated as committing one. Experiencing arrest, prosecution, and/or custody by law enforcement is deeply traumatizing, especially for sex trafficking survivors of color who have already faced trauma, systemic racism, and trafficking.
SB 274 Priorities: prevention, decriminalization, reducing barriers.
SB 274 focuses on decriminalizing prostitution for minors -- including removing the ability to arrest and/or charge minors who are experiencing sex trafficking with prostitution. Sex trafficking disportionality impacts Black and Brown minors, so making this adjustment would directly support reducing the unnecessary criminalization of these populations.
Senate Bill 274 would reduce further systemic trauma and protect minor sex trafficking survivors from incurring legal consequences and penalties for being trafficked. It would also address reports of child abuse involving survivors of sex trafficking.
The Human Trafficking Awareness Day event hosted by the Junior League of Portland, on January 11, 2021 at 6pm PST, will include a keynote presentation about human trafficking, specifically addressing the issue of how black girls and women & Native American girls and women have been historically, currently and repeatedly targeted and harmed and how our systems are a part of the problem.
This is a free event to attend.
Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/human-trafficking-awareness-day-virtual-event-tickets-131646517277
Keynote speakers include:
Sarah Nedeau, Director of Community-based Programs at New Avenues for Youth
Susheela Jayapal, Multnomah Co. Commissioner, District 2
Adrienne Livingston, Director of Anti-Sex Trafficking Initiatives at WorldVenture
Christen Price serves as Legal Counsel for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center. She joins me to talk about the case, Charleston v. State of Nevada, where they will argue that Nevada’s pro-prostitution law conflicts with federal laws that ban sex trafficking and violates the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on any form of involuntary servitude. endsexualexploitation.org
This episode is The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) Webinar addressing the case: Charleston vs. state of Nevada.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) Law Center will be arguing that Nevada’s pro-prostitution law conflicts with federal laws that ban sex trafficking and violates the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on any form of involuntary servitude. More details about the plaintiffs’ stories, and the legal briefs can be found at NotSafeForWomen.com.
https://endsexualexploitation.org/
Panelists:
Rebekah Charleston, Survivor of Nevada’s Legal Brothels, Plaintiff in this case.
Christen Price, Legal Counsel, National Center on Sexual Exploitation; Co-counsel in this case.
Jason Guinasso, Attorney; Lead attorney in this case.
Melissa Holland, Founder, Awaken; Provides direct services to women in prostitution in Nevada & leads local efforts to overturn NV’s prostitution laws.
Angela Delgado-Williams, Survivor of Sex Trafficking in Nevada.
Aashima Samuel heads the Children at Risk project with Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFIC@R) as the National Director. Her desire is to see that the churches and communities arise and come together to eradicate Human trafficking.
Caitlin Roper is an activist, writer and PhD candidate at RMIT university in Melbourne, Australia where she is researching female-bodied sex dolls and robots. Caitlin is the Campaigns Manager at Collective Shout (collectiveshout.org) which is a nonprofit that works toward a world free of sexploitation, a grassroots campaigns movement challenging the objectification of women and the sexualization of girls in media, advertising and popular culture. Caitlin is a Founding Member and Chair of Adopt Nordic Western Australia to fight sex trafficking and a Huffington Post blogger. Her Twitter handle is @caitlin_roper. Checkout campaignagainstsexrobots.org.
Justin Euteneier is the Program Director of The EPIK Project (Everyman Protecting Innocent Kids) which is a nonprofit which serves to mobilize male allies to disrupt the commercial sex market, equipping them to combat the roots of exploitation and encouraging them to collaborate effectively with the wider anti-trafficking movement.
Stephanie Powell, Executive Director of Journey Out and is a retired Police Sergeant for 30 years and is the author of My Choice, My Body, My Rules on found on Amazon. Journey Out is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit whose mission is to help victims of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking leave a life of abuse and violence, overcome their fears, and empower them to reach their full potential and achieve their goals. We also discuss how this time of COVID-19 is impacting victims of sex trafficking and exploitation. https://journeyout.org/.
Published on June 3, 2020