“Human trafficking is economically driven; it is about power, control, and privilege.”

Force, fraud, and coercion are not required, for a minor to be considered a victim of sex trafficking. Even if a minor says they are consenting, they do not have the legal right to consent. Traffickers can be individuals within the family. Training helps with knowing what to look out for and to get Tribal leaders to understand and really truly want to end what is happening to our youth, our women, our girls, our men, and our boys, and our Two-Spirit people. Human trafficking is economically driven, it is about power, control, privilege; it is about taking advantage of a population that doesn't have the resources.

Content below comes from the Combatting Human Trafficking: Native Youth Toolkit on Human Trafficking.   

1. Stay safe online. Develop good social media habits. Reduce your risk by screening friends and follower requests and making your profiles private. Be careful what information you share online, especially with strangers.
2. Know your worth. Traffickers prey on individuals with low self-esteem. Your culture can be a source of pride. Learn about your Tribal identity and heritage, including your oral traditions, Tribal language, and songs.
3. Stay in school and avoid drugs and alcohol. Get involved with after-school activities and youth programs. Drug or alcohol use just makes it easier for someone to take advantage of you.
4. Stay connected. Traffickers look for the loners. Maintain good relationships with family and friends. Reach out to them when you need help or are feeling lonely.
5. Research a job offer before taking it. Verify your potential employer, only accept legal work, and make sure you have a written employment agreement.
6. Ask for help. Traffickers target runaways. If you feel that you cannot stay in your home, reach out to a trusted member of your community. Call the National Runaway Safeline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) or chat with them at www.1800runaway.org.

In order to talk with a young person about “grooming”, we need to educate and bring awareness to ourselves. The more we learn the better we become at explaining to young people what grooming looks like. We already know that perpetrators often look for young people or others who are vulnerable. We know that poverty is a major risk factor. We also know that young people who come from dysfunctional homes are often looking to be loved. If you are approached by a person who suddenly wants to provide you with what you need or desire, that may be grooming for human trafficking. They will treat you nicely, say what you may want to hear, give you what you want and then they will get what they want from you. Often using threats or saying, “I gave you this, so you need to give me that.” We need to definitely begin to have conversations with young people about trafficking, what it looks like, and we need the support of all our communities. We need to continue to fund Tribal programs that want to do this work for our young people and all people who are at risk.

Content below comes from the Combatting Human Trafficking: Native Youth Toolkit on Human Trafficking.   

1. Talk to your Tribal leaders about human trafficking. Make them aware of the issue and how it impacts your community. Some Tribes have recently passed their own laws; you can help yours do the same.
2. Start a school coalition to end human trafficking. Create a safe space for conversation and educate your classmates on the ways to protect each other.
3. Hang posters in your community. Make information on the National Human Trafficking Hotline and human trafficking available in your community. You can start with the poster included in this toolkit.
4. Use social media to speak out against human trafficking. Use #endtrafficking and #lookbeneaththesurface to add your voice to the conversation.
5. Strengthen your community. Find useful ways to serve and contribute to your community. Work with kids that are younger than you, show them that they are valued, and provide them with a safe place to learn and grow.
6. Spread awareness and support survivors. You can do this through fundraising events, such as a movie screening featuring a film focused on human trafficking with a discussion afterward.

Content below comes from the Healing Indigenous Lives: Native Youth Responses to Tribal Leaders

The most common responses to this question nationally centered around cultural teachings, Elders, trusted adults, religious beliefs, and community support systems. Native youth in every region expressed the importance of community connectedness and the traditional sense of belonging to feeling safe.

Content below comes from the Culture as a Protective Factor in Preventing Trafficking among Native Youth report.

1. Individual - Sense of belonging, nurturing environment, ancestral and cultural teachings, and connection to spirituality, self, family, and community
2. Relationship - Practice teachings on what it means to be a good relative, strong family support system
3. Community - Systems of support for cultural values, traditional medicine and healing for trauma and addiction, community understanding, and access to mental health services and programs
4.  Societal - Demand anti-stigmatization of human trafficking survivors, programs designed by and for human trafficking survivors
5.  Historical - Resiliency

First, understand the impact of historical intergenerational trauma and understand the impact of the boarding school era. Understand those issues and how they impact us. Understand why often we, as Indian people, do not trust non-Native people. Native youth need mentorship. It does occur in Indian country, but not as often as it should. As a survivor of many forms of violence, one of the things we have backwards is inviting in non-Native people to talk to our youth. Our young people will connect with people who understand their experiences. Our youth need to know they are loved; that there is someone out there who loves them. When we connect with the Native youth, we need to be supportive and not try to fix their issue. Sit with them and show compassion and love and kindness to them. A lot of our Native youth who are experiencing broken homes, have never experienced that kindness. Personal connection is really important.