This editorial will appear in Thursday’s print edition.

Human trafficking sounds like something that goes on somewhere else – in the brothels of Southeast Asia, say, or war-torn African nations.

It does occur there, but it’s also happening here – whenever a teenager is pimped out for prostitution in a motel along I-5 or whenever a person is forced to work in a sweatshop, massage parlor, strip club or agricultural field for little or no money.

Police in the region see this as a growing problem often linked to gangs, whose members are increasingly forcing young girls to sell themselves and then keeping the money they make.

Human trafficking – the polite term for “slavery” – is more pervasive than many people suspect. It generates $30 billion or more in profit annually and is one of the world’s fastest-growing criminal enterprises. According to the U.S. State Department, approximately 1 in every 555 people in the world is a victim. More than 10 million people are living in some sort of sexual or forced slavery.

This global – yet local – human tragedy needs the spotlight of attention so that we will know it when we see it. A “Stop the Demand” publicity campaign by three groups of Catholic sisters – the Dominican Sisters of Tacoma and members of the Franciscan Sisters and the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary – is doing just that with ads on Pierce Transit buses.

Others – including former Washington Congresswoman Linda Smith and her Shared Hope International organization and South Puget Sound Women of Vision – have also focused attention on the problem, particularly as it applies to the sexual exploitation of women and children.

Washington state took a tougher stance on human trafficking earlier this month when longer sentences and higher fines for those who sexually exploit minors went into effect. But six states – Hawaii, Massachusetts, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming – have no laws against human trafficking.

While human trafficking is a problem in this country, it’s far more serious in many others. The U.S. State Department lists 13 countries as noncompliant with minimum international standards to counter human trafficking: Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Kuwait, Mauritania, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Another 58 are on a “watch list” for failing to do much to address the problem.

Human trafficking, sexual slavery, forced labor: Whatever it’s called, it contributes to misery around the world and deserves the attention it’s getting from local religious groups and others.

Learn more
For information on recognizing and fighting human trafficking, go to www.stopthedemand.org or call 1-888-3737-888.