Zonta tackles human trafficking

But a local group has taken up arms against this sea of troubles by holding the Zonta Club of the Coos Bay Area's second annual Human Trafficking Conference next week.

It will train and educate citizens, local law enforcement officers, and social workers how to recognize signs of modern slavery.

'You have no idea how close things are," said Jan Delimont, the Coos Bay Zonta's chairwoman of the legislative advocacy and awareness committee.

Coos County in particular could be a hotbed for human trafficking because its population of homeless children and teens is vulnerable to kidnapping and recruitment into the sex trade.

Delimont emphasized that sex trafficking, which often involves teens, isn't the same as prostitution. Victims don't sell their bodies of their own free will.

'When they're under 18, they don't have the cognitive ability to make that choice," she explained.

Human trafficking defined

According to the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, human trafficking is the use of coercion, deception or force to enslave men, women and children or to place them into slavery-like conditions. It's typically divided into two categories:

• The first, labor trafficking, typically involves victims who are forced to work in conditions of involuntary servitude though force, fraud or coercion. Many are foreigners who are limited by language barriers.

• Sex trafficking deals with commercial sex acts not limited to prostitution, exotic dancing and pornography.

Local examples

In one recent incident, Delimont said two Coos County parents had tried to sell their daughter at a local bar.

In another, a Chinese woman -- who had allegedly been purchased by a Coquille man -- went to the Women's Safety & Resource Center because he beat her.

'She didn't speak English and she didn't know what had happened to her," Delimont said.

Made possible through a collaboration between Coos Bay Zonta, the Coos Commission on Children and Families, and Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans, the conference and training event begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12, at The Mill Casino-Hotel. It is expected to run to 4:30 p.m.

Inspirational speaker

Open to the public, social service workers and law enforcement for a $10 registration fee, the first event features keynote speaker Bill Hillar, an expert on the topic and retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel.

He also became the inspiration for the 2008 film 'Taken," starring Liam Neeson, in which a man's daughter is forced into the slave trade.

Keith Bickford, a Multnomah County sheriff's deputy, along with Julie Samples of the Oregon Legal Services Farmworkers Program and Wynne Wakkila, the director of Oregonians Against Trafficking Humans, also are scheduled to speak.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is expected to attend.

The International Labor Organization estimates 12.3 million adults and children are in forced labor, bonded labor, and commercial sexual servitude, a Zonta press release said. The training will explore these issues.

These are 'people who are brought to the United states and a promised a job and then exploited," said Genelle Hanken, a co-chairwoman for the conference.

'They're not paid; they're kept in bad conditions."

Zonta's fight

A second event that will feature Hillar will start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 12 in the Coos Bay Public Library's Myrtlewood Room. Free, it is expected to be a more informal presentation.

Finally, on Wednesday, Oct. 13, the Coos Bay Police Department will host a training event for law enforcement.

Hanken and Delimont said the issue has been part of a larger project through Zonta International, but Coos Bay members took up the fight because they found human trafficking often involved young people, and came too close to home.

'I'm excited to hear what Bill Hillar has to say, and hopefully it gets us all fired up so we know what to do," Hanken said.

She said the club hopes to open a chapter of Oregonians against Trafficking Humans in the area.

Pre-registration for the conference is encouraged, but entry can be purchased on the day of the event. Registration can be made online at www.zontacoosbay.org. For more information, contact Terri Turi at 541-297-4403.

Reporter Jessica Musicar can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 240; or at jmusicar@theworldlink.com.