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Internet sales for sex with children is on the rise in Minnesota. An estimated 8,000 to 12,000 women and children are being sold for sexual services in Minnesota every day. The Sisters of St. Francis sponsored Breaking the Chains of Modern Day Slavery, a symposium with multiple events during the month of January to bring awareness and activism to a human rights issue in Rochester—human trafficking, a story which Andy Siefert covered in detail last week.

Proclaimed on January 12th by Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede, January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Human trafficking occurs when “people are taken against their will, bought, sold, and enslaved for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labor, and domestic servitude.” It has been estimated that 80 percent of trafficked people are women, and 50 percent are children.

In December of 2011, Rochester police posted a fake ad on an internet site through which undercover officers arranged to meet perpetrators “johns” in a local hotel room. That sting operation led to the arrest and charge of 17 men for soliciting prostitutes. Investigator Brent Petersen has alluded to more recent sting operations that have yielded similar results, some as many as 25 arrests, but Petersen said, “We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg.” For only a handful of arrests made, there are always more johns soliciting services than the police department has time to deal with.

Petersen recounted his shock after a sting operation when he mistakenly left a fake advertisement up online over the weekend. When the team returned Monday morning there were hundreds of messages on the police phone number provided in the ad. The prevalence of sex crimes in Rochester, especially those against children, is far worse than many residents realize.

There are several anti-trafficking services providing services to both victims and men struggling with sex addiction. Breaking Free, headquartered in St. Paul, offers permanent and transitional safe housing for victims, crisis intervention, support groups, legal services, and a “John School” where sex offenders receive education and counseling to treat sex addiction and compulsive sexual behavior (visit www.breakingfree.net) These are all effective and life-changing services for victims, but representative Noelle Volin argues that the real problem she would like to see better addressed is “the mindset of the youth in our country. The dismissive attitude that ‘boys will be boys’ and ‘he’s a pussy, he throws like a girl’ is deeply engrained in our culture.” Volin suggests that we need more youth programs that teach respect for women to reinforce messages that violence against women “is not okay.”

Another organization working on the problem is the Women’s foundation of Minnesota with their campaign Minnesota Girls Are Not for Sale. Their research shows that the Twin Cities area is one of the country’s 13 largest human trafficking hot spots. In 2010, with the Women’s Funding Network, they joined the national launch of “A Future, Not a Past,” a program modeled on Georgia’s successful campaign against the prostitution of young girls. More information about the campaign is available at http://www.mngirlsnotforsale.org/

Since 2010, right in Rochester, Mission 21 is an anti-trafficking service which also offers advocacy and victim support, but hopes to open a Home for Girls ages 5-15 years old to provide a safe and loving environment for children rescued from domestic minor trafficking. While donations to make that a reality are welcome at Mission 21 P.O. Box 6393, Rochester, MN 55903, or online at www.mission21mn.org, you can also help by:

•Hosting a Mission 21 Human Trafficking Awareness class; contact matthew@mission21mn.org

•Donating household items, food, gift cards, music instruments, art supplies, etc.

•Contacting state representatives and encourage them to support anti-trafficking legislation.

•Encouraging men and boys to end the demand of commercial sex with women and girls by educating them about the reality of prostitution and sex-slavery in the United States.

•Educating boys about the dangers of pornography and encourage them to avoid internet sites, videos, and magazines with images that exploit women and children.

Stephanie Holt, executive director and founder of Mission 21, said that many of the girls they connect with on their Help Line are desperate to get out of their situations but are not ready to take the next step to recovery and freedom without safe housing.

Since we know that many children are recruited while in high school, Mission 21 aims to educate the teenage youth of Rochester about the consequences of trafficking and how to stay safe. Information on upcoming Teen Movie Nights and awareness events can be found at www.mission21mn.org.