* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Last month we observed National Human Trafficking Awareness month, and a growing number of people became aware of the pervasive problem of children being bought and sold for sex across our country. The month also served as an opportunity to learn how much farther we have to go in fully securing the rights and needs of survivors.
Across the country, our message is spreading that there is No Such Thing as a ‘child prostitute’ and that child sex trafficking victims are in fact victims of gender-based violence and child abuse who should be met with protections and services. But there are still far too many instances of child sex trafficking survivors receiving fewer protections and support than survivors of other forms of violence and abuse. One glaring example is the availability of protections for trafficking survivors who testify in criminal proceedings.
Rights4Girls, in partnership with Thomson Reuters Foundation's Trustlaw, recently released a new report on innovative protections for child sex trafficking victim witnesses. The report, Survivor Protection: Reducing the Risk of Trauma to Child Sex Trafficking Victims, describes ways to extend existing courtroom protections afforded to other victims of gender violence and child abuse, to survivors of child sex trafficking who testify at trial.
Child sex trafficking involves psychological, sexual, and often physical abuse of victims by both traffickers and sex buyers. When called to testify against their exploiters, these children can experience much of the same re-traumatization as survivors of other forms of abuse. Research has shown that child abuse victims can experience significant stress and trauma when testifying in court, even when they wish to testify as part of their healing journey. This is particularly true in adult criminal proceedings because the defendant is often someone the child knows, the defendant’s freedom often hinges on the child’s testimony, and the child is made to publicly recount personal and violent details of their abuse. While some jurisdictions have developed methods that reduce the risk of emotional and psychological distress to victims of child abuse who testify in court, these protections are often unavailable to child sex trafficking survivors.
One method of protection is the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) which allows children to testify in a room other than the courtroom, away from the defendant and the public. However, in nearly half of the country this protection is unavailable to child sex trafficking survivors. This gap in protections is all the more startling considering that eighteen states allow victims of other forms of child abuse to testify via CCTV but simply don’t extend this protection to victims of child sex trafficking.
Even in the states where CCTV is available to child trafficking victims, limitations often apply. In over half of these states, CCTV is only an option for children who are thirteen years old or younger, even though most child sex trafficking victims are identified between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. Sadly, only three states extend this protection to minors of all ages. What’s more, in several states, it is insufficient to prove that the survivor will experience significant trauma by testifying before the defendant or in open court. Rather, in order to use CCTV, the court must find that the child’s trauma will impact their ability to communicate, demonstrating that the true priority is not on protecting the child’s well-being but on protecting the child’s testimony.
Holding traffickers and exploiters accountable for their crimes against children is an important component of eradicating domestic child sex trafficking. However, we cannot let the pursuit of justice overshadow the vital need to protect survivors, the very people who were harmed. It is urgent that we prioritize the physical and psychological needs of child victims first, and extend to child sex trafficking survivors the full scope of protections granted to other victims of child abuse and violence.
Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director, Rights4Girls and Cherice Hopkins, Staff Attorney, Rights4Girls.
