CHAPEL HILL, NC – January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and experts are debunking trafficking myths and sharing ways to stop it.
You might not hear about human trafficking every day, but according to the North Carolina Department of Administration, it’s one of the state’s, “most pressing issues.” According to Bryan Stephany, the Human Trafficking Coordinator with the Eastern United States District Attorney’s office, the numbers show why. “One metric that’s commonly used is calls into the National Human Trafficking Hotline, the tip line,” Stephany said. “And North Carolina consistently ranks in the top ten in the number of calls received.”
Human trafficking falls into two categories: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Both happen in North Carolina. “It really can occur anywhere,” Stephany said. “But we do see higher incidents in the major metropolitan areas.”
Those areas include Raleigh and parts of the Triangle. According to Dean Duncan the main researcher for Project NO REST, which aims to end child trafficking, trafficking often occurs in unexpected places.
“The individual is in a situation and in a place where they feel safe,” Duncan said.
Increasingly, trafficking is not occurring in a physical place. Stephany said that social media has become a new recruiting tool for exploiters. “There’s been a shift more recently by traffickers, particularly in the sex trafficking industry, to recruit via the Internet and social media,” he said. “And obviously, as we know, the colleges have a demographic that is very attuned to social media.”
With online trafficking on the rise, trafficking can be hard to spot, but Stephany said there are some key things college-aged people can do. “Being careful with your online presence, that’s number one, I think,” he said. “I think it’s also important to look out for each other.”
If you or somebody you know has fallen victim to human trafficking, the National Human Trafficking Hotline can be reached at 1-888-373-7888.