By Elizabeth Bunjer

Sex trafficking isn’t something we think of as being a major problem in America, but the truth is that both youth and adults are being exploited and trafficked in our own backyards.

Sex trafficking knows no zip code and doesn’t only exist in big cities, like Las Vegas, New York or Minneapolis/St. Paul. This problem even exists in rural areas like our own Lyon County.

In 2016 the National Human Trafficking Hotline had 7,621 sex trafficking cases reported in the United States. And between April 2017 and August 2018, the Southwest Minnesota Safe Harbor Regional Navigator, serving 17 counties in southwest Minnesota consulted with law enforcement, probation officers, human services, school counselors and other systems professionals on 54 cases of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. And experts in human trafficking believe that most cases of sex trafficking go unreported.

Oftentimes, our understanding of sex trafficking is influenced by movies, artwork, and music which implant the notion that youth are abducted from our communities and forced into a life of sexual slavery. Statistically, only about 3 percent of sex trafficking victims are abducted from places like malls, sporting events, and grocery stores. Whereas, most cases of sexual exploitation and trafficking are, in fact, by recruitment by people living in or near our own towns.

Sex trafficking in rural areas is often harder to spot because there are fewer services available to a victim, and often less training for these providers to identify a victim when they do access services. And, often there aren’t available resources or funding to train and assign law enforcement officers to possible sex trafficking cases. But that doesn’t mean that communities cannot combat sexual exploitation and trafficking.

The first step starts with becoming informed about the issue and what resources already exist within the community so that a coordinated community response can be developed to further strengthen the security and well-being of the community we call home.

That is the motivation behind the development by SMOC Family Planning, New Horizons Crisis Center, Women’s Rural Advocacy Program, and the Southwest Crisis Center to host an educational event at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 7 in Marshall at the Middle School Theater. To find out more information, contact Elizabeth Bunjer with SMOC Family Planning at 507-537-1950 or by email at ebunjer@smoc.us.

Elizabeth Bunjer, BSN, RN, PHN is with Southwestern Minnesota Opportunity Council, Inc. (SMOC) Family Planning | Marshall Clinic