On Tuesday, February 24th, the Blue Ridge Center hosted an event featuring John Cotton Richmond, a man described by the former head of the FBI’s national human trafficking program as “Every trafficker’s worst nightmare.” Richmond is best known for his work as a federal civil rights prosecutor and as the US Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The theme of his presentation revolved around “low risk, high reward,” a phrase reflecting that the success of the human trafficking industry is due to a lack of consequences for traffickers and high amounts of profit.
Richmond began by laying out the foundation of the trafficking industry. He explained that traffickers do not just use physical restraint to control victims but also psychological and financial manipulation. One notable example is taking children away from mothers: “They separate [the child] from the mother and send [the mother] to the United States to have to work. If she ever wants to see her kid, she has to make her quota that year.” Richmond explained that his practice uses a “victim-centered approach,” a strategy that focuses on avoiding victim-blaming while holding perpetrators accountable and providing support to victims.
Next, Richmond described the division in human trafficking by distinguishing between sex work and human trafficking as well as explaining how different countries differ in their handling of human trafficking. Richmond explained that because prostitution is illegal in America, victims of sex-trafficking often get penalized even if they were forced into it, and traffickers and buyers often walk away free. “We’ve got, I think, one of the worst models,” Richmond said. “We have an inverted equality model. That is, the only people that actually get arrested are the women selling sex.”
Richmond then discussed common places illegal trafficking occurs — within brothels, massage parlors, or homes — and common victims of trafficking, like foster care children, migrants, and refugees. He also explained the issue from the lens of the trafficker: “One trafficker I talked to said, ‘I just figure out what people want, and I sell them their dreams. If what you want is a father figure, I can become that. If what you want is to be in the music industry, I will sell you that. If what you want is immigration status, I tell you I can get you a green card.’”
Richmond cited that less than 1% of human trafficking victims are identified annually, and convicted traffickers in countries such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea receive suspended sentences in over 50% of cases. He also explained that when adult film companies were asked to remove videos where it was not clear that the individual was consenting or of legal age, 91% of videos were removed from Porn Hub alone. He ended the presentation by referencing some positive change: “For 4000 years, everyone agreed [slavery was] okay, and just in the last 200 years everyone says it’s wrong. That’s amazing consensus. That’s amazing agreement.” Ultimately, his message served to encourage students to continue creating progress — even when it seems impossible.
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