The H.R. 2601 is a bill in the United States Congress aims to turn the National Trafficking Hotline into a tip-line for law enforcement, perpetuating the harmful practice of coercive "services" that is popular with some in the anti-trafficking sector.
The purpose of the National Human Trafficking Hotline is to be a resource for those experiencing trafficking who either need someone safe to speak with or to be connected to what services they feel they need. It is not in place to serve as a means to provide law enforcement with information for them to go into a situation that they have limited information about. If a person who is calling the hotline isn't ready to leave the life, we would be endangering them by having officers with limited knowledge about what's happening, go in to "rescue" them.
Those in the anti-trafficking sector, on both sides, need to remember that listening to survivors and victims alike, and giving each of them the ability and the right to be a part of their own recovery is needed.
Providing a way for them to have the choice to participate in their exit is empowering to them!
This is not to say that we as survivors don't want justice. It is not to say that we don't want for those who are culpable in the web of trafficking to be held accountable.
Everyone does.
Forcing the hotline to turn over information is not the way to make sure that accountability happens.
On the evening of November 01, 2023 we learned that congress was moving the original hearing date for this bill from November 3rd to November 2nd at 10 am.
Joined by my survivor siblings and allies from Polaris, we went to the Rayburn building to sit in session while the hearing was taking place.
We can work together to fight human trafficking, but we cannot fight effectively if we are fighting one another.
Politicians must understand that the survivors and allies in the anti-trafficking sector speaking out and opposing this bill are trying to educate on what the reality of things are within 'the game' and are trying to find a middle ground that does not endanger victims and survivors but empowers them.
Khalila Riga
コメント