((ANIMATION W/ GFX, CAPTIONS, PHOTOS))
An estimated 4.5 million people are trapped in forced sexual exploitation globally. (International Labor Organization)
((PKG)) SEX TRAFFICKING / AIRPORT TRAFFICKING
((Banner: Intervening))
((Reporter: Carolyn Presutti))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: United States / Charlotte, North Carolina))
((DONNA HUBBARD, AIRLINE AMBASSADORS INTERNATIONAL))
I am a human trafficking survivor. I was bought and sold. I wasn’t kidnapped. I was a young mother with young children who was looking for love in all the wrong places. I wanted to fit in.
I work with Airline Ambassadors International as a human trafficking awareness trainer. And I provide insight on what to look for, what to report, who to report it to, and why it’s so important for everyone to be aware of their surroundings. Because people think that human trafficking is going on everywhere else. It’s going on all around us, because human trafficking is not just sexual exploitation. It is human trafficking. But the sexual exploitation of women, girls, men and boys happens so subversively and so subtly that sometimes you don’t recognize it. Sometimes it looks like something else. And so, when I’m walking through an airport, I’m looking very differently at what I see. I’m looking at groups of people. I’m also looking at people who look vulnerable. They may be children that are traveling with someone that doesn’t look like they’re related. I’ve seen, the times that I have actually witnessed a couple that were traveling with a young boy. But this little boy was lethargic. He had a high fever. He was in pain. They were carrying him. But this little boy was maybe five to eight years old, and I’m wondering why are they carrying this child? So those are the kind of things that, you know, that we look for. If I had a child that was that ill, I would not be getting on an airplane, you know. Why are these young girls traveling with nothing but a purse? They didn’t check anything. They didn’t check any luggage, but all they have is their purse and a one-way ticket. And they don’t know who’s meeting them. They only, “Oh, we saw a picture of him on Facebook. And we’re going to be models. We’re going to be movie stars.”
((NATS))
((DONNA HUBBARD, AIRLINE AMBASSADORS INTERNATIONAL))
I was looking at these little girls over here.
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Flight attendant: So what are you guys doing, are you going on vacation?
Man: We are.
Flight attendant: Yeah, where are you going?
Man: We’re going to New York.
Flight attendant: Oh, New York, that sounds fun. What are you going to be doing there?
Man: She and I will just be vacationing.
Flight Attendant: Alright. Well, have a great time.
((NATS))
It’s just a little off, he’s answering for her. She doesn’t look you in the eye. I’m asking questions but they’re very evasive about it.
((NATS))
Charlotte Ops 267 coming from Orlando. We have an unusual situation with a passenger, a male and a female in seats 10D and E. I’d like to report the flight attendant observations. We’d like to have law enforcement meet us at the gate to observe the situation and hopefully we can resolve this issue.
((NATS))
((DONNA HUBBARD, AIRLINE AMBASSADORS INTERNATIONAL))
I just don’t want another girl to go through what I went through. I don’t want another young woman to feel that they don’t matter, that they’re invisible.
