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‘Human trafficking still exists in the CNMI’
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Posted on Jan 13 2020
Karidat Social Services kicked off Human Trafficking Awareness Month with executive director Lauri B. Ogumoro and Pacific Ombudsman for Humanitarian Law executive director Pam Brown taking part in a morning talk show with radio station KKMP last Jan. 9.
According to Brown, the term human trafficking doesn’t only mean sex trafficking. It is also labor trafficking, which is a form of modern day slavery in which individuals perform labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.
She also stressed that human trafficking is also present in the CNMI and has been increasing since 2016.
According to Brown, the perpetrators in sex trafficking are smarter now and know how to hide it, that sex trafficking is still around and it’s very common.
That’s why it is so important to recognize the signs of human trafficking, said Ogumoro. “We want people to recognize the signs of human trafficking so that if you do see something, you know who you can call and who you can discuss what you what you think you saw.”
“You have to be aware of it every day, not just once in a while. You have to always be aware of what’s going on in your surroundings. And if you if you see something, say something,” said Ogumoro. “If you get a weird vibe about it, trust your gut, and even if you don’t want to bother because it’s somebody else, they’re all human beings and they were just trying to come here to make a better life and, unfortunately, most of them were tricked.”
According to Brown, certain signs that someone might be a victim of human trafficking would be if you see an older person with younger people paying for everything, controlling them, and not letting the younger people speak for themselves, which is a red flag.
Both Brown and Ogumoro encouraged the community to volunteer at Karidat’s shelter to help with translation for victims who may only speak their first language such as Chamorro, Tagalog, Chuukese, Carolinian, etc.
