Giving Compass' Take:

• Daniele Selby explains the importance of laws to prevent trafficking in the United States and prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people. 

• How can funders best support the systemic prevention of human trafficking? 

• Learn more about modern human trafficking. 

Sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar global industry, and the internet has enabled it to become the fastest growing illegal business in the world, according to nonprofit Equality Now. And because of privacy laws and technology that enables people to obscure their identities and locations, online human trafficking and sexual exploitation is extremely difficult to track.

"Tech companies can be a force for good and provide tech solutions. It is with their technology and on their platforms that traffickers are recruiting, grooming, buying and selling their victims,” Shelby Quast, director of Equality Now's Americas office, told Global Citizen.

“Some have knowingly facilitated sex trafficking,” she added.

Websites like Backpage and Craigslist have come under fire for allowing sexual services by children and adults to be sold on its platform. In fact, by the time Backpage was shut down by federal authorities last year, it was the “largest online US marketplace for sex trafficking,” according to Polaris chief executive Bradley Myles.

"Sex trafficking and sexual exploitation happens every day in every community, and the increased use of the Internet has expanded the pool of victims, and victims can be from any background,” Quast said.

But while the internet has certainly fueled the sex trafficking industry, it is not to blame for the sexual exploitation of vulnerable people.

“Ultimately, exploitation — both online and offline — is about power and abuse of power, and is rooted in gender and systematic inequality,” Quast said. "Women and girls are the majority of victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, and from our experience adolescent girls are particularly at risk of online sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.”

The internet has boosted sex trafficking business’ ability to traverse state lines and international borders with ease. What Epstein was able to do with the use of his personal private jets, the internet has empowered traffickers of more moderate means to do.

To stop this kind of exploitation, laws aimed at stopping perpetrators like Epstein — whose case continues to evolve daily — from continuing to sexually abuse minors must be enforced. And sexually exploited children should not be criminalized, Smolenski said.

More than 30 states have already adopted “safe harbor” laws that decriminalize exploited children, who might otherwise be charged with offenses like promoting prostitution as a result of being trafficked, but Smolenski said these policies need to be widely adopted and implemented.

“Part of that has to do with training for law enforcement officers and judges to understand that when a 13-year-old is arrested because she was with a pimp that she should not be treated as a criminal,” Smolenski said. “Instead they should see her as a kid who actually needs help and protection.”

The other part of preventing the sex trafficking and exploitation of underage children, and particularly girls, is educating youth around the fact that they are vulnerable to this industry. Teaching youth to be able to identify signs of grooming and recruitment into sexual exploitation is key to keeping youth out of the industry.

And if a child or adult thinks they are being recruited or have witnessed sex trafficking or exploitation, err on the side of caution, Smolenski urged. She said people are often hesitant to call trafficking tip hotlines or relevant authorities because they are worried they don’t have enough information or are being alarmist.

Read the full article about how laws can prevent trafficking by Daniele Selby at Global Citizen.