Think of human beings held in involuntary servitude by other human beings, and you’re likely of think of faraway times and places - not the 21st Century in South Carolina. But that’s exactly what anti-human trafficking activists say is happening; people - children and adults – are being kidnapped and lured into captivity to work in the sex trade or other forms of forced labor.
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery involving the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving a person through the use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them, according to the Polaris Project, an anti-human trafficking organization in Washington, DC. According to the Polaris Project and other human rights organization, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad every year. About 80 percent of people who are trafficked are women and children, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Anti-human trafficking advocates in SC are urging lawmakers to enact more comprehensive laws to make SC an inhospitable an environment for human traffickers. A recent anti-human trafficking lobby day at the SC state house included a media conference during which several heavy hitters of the state’s legal and justice systems and victims’ advocates vowed to do all within their power to end human trafficking in SC.
Rep. Nelson Hardwicke of Surfside Beach has been a key leader of the charge to enact more comprehensive anti-human trafficking laws in the state. Last year, Hardwicke introduced H. 3757, a comprehensive bill that would criminalize sex trafficking, support trafficking victims, and raise awareness of the problem. The bill gives more tools to law enforcement to combat human trafficking, including asset forfeiture. The bill also creates a civil cause of action for victims of trafficking and establishes mandatory restitution for those who have been victimized. Finally, H. 3757 creates a task force to fight human trafficking through the Office of the Attorney General.
Betty Houbion of Murrells Inlet is one the state’s leading anti-human trafficking activists. While she doesn’t necessarily believe that the legislation being considered will zip through the process, she does believe that it will eventually become law. That’s because of the job she and others have done educating lawmakers and others on the issue. She gives Rep. Hardwicke a lot of credit for getting the ball rolling and helping advocates and activists educate other legislators. This report by Bhakti Larry Hough includes interviews with Rep. Hardwicke, Houbion and others.
