Soap is next weapon in war against human trafficking in NJ

The local volunteers who are fighting the war against human sex trafficking have chosen their next weapon: soap.

Bars of hotel-size soap with red stickers that list information and the national human trafficking hotline phone number, (888) 373-7888, aimed at adolescents forced into prostitution, will be distributed to every hotel and motel in New Jersey on June 15.  

The Church and Community Abolition Network has joined the SOAP Project, or Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution, and together are working to get information to the teens enslaved as sex workers. They have chosen to target hotels because it's likely where the adolescents are forced to work, volunteers say. The bars' wrappers provide contact information the teens can use to get help. 

On June 15, volunteers will conduct "Human Trafficking 101" training sessions at five locations around the state. It is the country's first statewide drive to help victims of human trafficking. One of the sessions will be held in Wayne, where SOAP was launched 10 years ago by author, advocate and sex trafficking survivor Theresa Flores. 

Sex enslavement and other human trafficking in which victims are forced into labor against their will are a bigger problem than most realize, said Pablo Rivadeneira, a local chapter leader and assistant vice president of Valley National Bank in Clifton.

"This is not something just happening in Tijuana," Rivadeneira said. "It is happening in our backyards."

Human trafficking is believed to be the third-largest criminal activity in the world, according to the FBI. Numbers vary, depending on the agency, but the numbers are solidly in the hundreds of thousands in the United States, according to FBI information.

Church and Community Abolition Network  founder Mandy Bristol-Leverett said the statewide effort is needed because human trafficking is a problem that's prevalent throughout New Jersey.

All 565 municipalities have businesses that employ forced labor or domestic servitude, along with commercial sex trafficking or predators who look for the young and vulnerable, she said.

After the training sessions, the volunteer teams will be sent to every hotel and motel in the state with posters that show pictures of missing children from the area, packets of indicator information and bars of hotel soap labeled with the national human trafficking hotline number. Hotel workers will then place the bars in the rooms. 

The soap is paid for by donations, with local churches the biggest sponsors. 

As part of the event, volunteers will ask hotel workers to look at photos of missing teens. In the past, volunteers have returned from such missions with information on missing youths gained by talking to the hotel workers, Bristol-Leverett said. 

When children are recognized, the appropriate law enforcement and missing children hotlines are called. If they are there at the time, they're rescued by law enforcement. If not, the investigative work begins with the appropriate agencies, Bristol-Leverett said.

Passaic religious leaders recruited

Bristol-Leverett was on hand in Passaic on Thursday, at Mayor Hector Lora's request, to enlist city clergy support in looking for missing youths. Religious leaders are on the ground level in the city and may be able to spot the signs, Lora said. 

"The No. 1 risk factor is being young," Bristol-Leverett told the city's faith leaders at the monthly mayor and clergy breakfast meeting. She said the youths are not usually abducted, but "groomed" by those who prey on them. "The average age is between 11 and 14."

Often the children have been sexually or physically abused, and those who enslave them find the most vulnerable at malls, in after-school programs and online. Typically the children targeted are believed to be "throwaway children," or those no one will look for. 

"They want our kids," Bristol-Leverett cautioned.

On Thursday she found a receptive audience. 

The Rev. Harrison Sanchez of The Fountain Christian Church in Passaic remarked that her presentation was both informational and revealing.  

"It's an eye-opener," Sanchez said. 

Information about its prevalence will help the city's religious leaders be on the lookout for victims and predators, those in attendance said. 

"It will take a community effort," said Pastor Lisa Greer of Second Timothy Baptist Church. 

For his part, Lora said he will form his own initiative, 'A Call to Abel," in which he will reach out to men and ask them to stop supporting business that deal with human trafficking. With the help of clergy, they will stay vigilant for other forms of trafficking, including forced labor.

"The biggest shock," Lora noted, "is that many do not know it is happening in their neighborhood."

Volunteers interested in the soap effort can choose one of the following locations to meet: Wayne, Oasis of Grace, 1111 Preakness Ave.; Hackettstown, Mountaintop Church, 6 Naughright Road; Bridgewater, Evangel Chapel 505 NJ-28; Blackwood, Bethel Church, 1583 Blackwood-Clementon Road; and Little Egg Harbor, New Life Community Church, 595 Parkertown Drive.

Signs of human trafficking

• Signs in youths or adults can include branding, injuries, signs of sleep deprivation, starvation, not knowing where they are, extreme submission, inability to speak or make eye contact, constant texts, a controlling or "responsible" and/or older boyfriend/girlfriend, clothing inappropriate for the age or weather, multiple cellphones, grades slipping, absenteeism, large amounts of cash, rechargeable credit cards, inability to be alone.
• Victims may have a high number of sexually transmitted infections, multiple abortions, high number of sexual partners, no address or constantly moving, inability to leave, appearance in escort ads, inability to make decisions, no control of their documents, no participation in education, expensive clothing or items neither they nor their family can afford. They often have mental chains, like a trauma bond called Stockholm syndrome, or be addicted to drugs. 

Email: fagan@northjersey.com