Anti-Human Trafficking
Action Center
Support a "Safe Harbor" for Sexually Exploited Kids
Services and shelter for underage girls caught in prostitution are sorely lacking. Prosecutors, public defenders, judges, law enforcement and advocates are frustrated with the limited options available to help these exploited youth. Without options, these girls can end up in juvenile detention and Rikers (if at least 16 years old), feeling more like criminals than victims. Better services are needed to ensure they are treated like victims and not criminals. Advocates and legislators in New York are working to change this by establishing the Safe Harbor Act. The law calls for exploited children to have an alternative to an arrest record and detention, by way of specialized safe houses and services. The law would ensure that exploited children receive specialized care and end up in safe facilities, where they can obtain appropriate medical treatment and counseling.
This bill, A05258, was introduced in the Assembly by Assemblymember William Scarborough, NY-29 Queens, and passed without a single NO vote. Thank Assemblymember Scarborough and his fellow co-sponsors for supporting this critical measure in the Assembly, and ask them to reach out to their Senate colleagues to ensure the passage of the bill. Ask your State Senator to vote yes on the Safe Harbor Act, so that sexually exploited children don't have to wait another year to get the medical treatment and social services they desperately need.
Contact your representatives today!
Find Your State Assembly Member | Find Your State Senator | Bill Text | Sexually Exploited Children Factsheet
Real Funding Needed for Anti-Human Trafficking Measure
New York State has allocated a paltry $450,000 to support its new anti-human trafficking legislation. This may seem like alot of money, but let's put this in perspective. The size of the budget for New York State is $81 billion or $81,608,000,000. It takes more than $450,000 dollars to clean the snow off the streets in one day in New York City. Trafficking rings are complicated operations that will require a significant investment to stop, if the state is serious about addressing the problem of trafficking in our neighborhoods.
Write to your reps today: Contact your State Senator and ask her or him to support the Anti-Human Trafficking law by putting real dollars behind it. Simply use the text selection tool to cut and paste our letter into your own email message. | Find your NYS Senator
Write a letter of support: Read NOW-NYC President Sonia Ossorio's Op-Ed in the Albany Times-Union and write your own letter of support.
Get Informed
Learn More About NOW-NYC's Campaign
NOW-NYC Human Trafficking Fact Sheet
NOW-NYC Marketing Arm of Trafficking Fact Sheet
New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition
Written Testimony on Prosecuting Human Trafficking
Join our Trafficking Action Network
Our network is “tracking the traffickers.” We bring real life examples of how massage parlors on our city streets are actually brothels where trafficking victims may have been funneled to supply the local sex market. Leads have led to the Bronx DA obtaining a search warrant for a brothel in a Bronx apartment. We have convinced a growing list of local papers not to accept ads for sex tours and massage parlors and/or create policies of due diligence (like requiring submission of massage license required by the state). There is a lot more to uncover. Join us to help bring an end to this modern-day slavery. Call 212.627.9895 or email Jean Bucaria at jean@nownyc.org to join.
Trafficking Free, NYC! Traffickers Advertise in Your Neighborhood Newspapers
NOW-NYC launches a new phase in its trafficking campaign. Aimed at ending newspapers and magazines' reliance on advertisement revenue from illegal massage parlors and brothels, we're asking local publications to stop doing business with the organized commercial sex industry by signing an anti-trafficking pledge Trafficking Free, NYC! The pledge rewards publications that have made a policy not to advertise brothels. Traffickers supply the local brothel market to meet demand for commercial sex. Turn through the pages of your neighborhood papers and let us know whether or not they are “trafficking free.” Many major publications have already signed on, but there are dozens of local newspapers. We need to increase our reach across the five boroughs and to more ethnic papers. Pick them up, if they have sketchy ads for massage parlors, escort services or classified ads, call them and tell them you won't read it anymore, better, call an advertiser and call us! 212.627.9895/ contact@nownyc.org.
Ultimately We're asking publishers to do basic due diligence and use common sense. If someone calls asking for a classified ad that reads ‘Russian Girls, Young, 24/7' what's there to think about? Take the contact information and call the NYPD.
Ask a Cop
 New York City police officers are on the front line. They can identify and rescue victims, and arrest perpetrators. But many of New York's finest don't even know what human trafficking is. Help NOW-NYC convince the NYPD that the need exists for comprehensive and effective training in law enforcement to better end the trafficking of women and girls for commercial
sexual exploitation.
Next time you see a police officer, ask the officer what she or he knows about trafficking. Then send an email to contact@nownyc.org letting us know what you found out. Please include information on where and when you spoke to the officer.
Sample Questions To Get You Started:
Excuse me, officer...
"I heard that New York passed a new law criminalizing human trafficking. Do you see that kind of thing?"
"I just read an article that human trafficking is happening here in New York City. Is that true?"
Report Crime
You can report trafficking crimes or get help by calling the Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force Complaint Line at 1-888-428-7581 (voice and TTY). New laws provide options for trafficking victims regardless of immigration status. Operators have access to interpreters and can talk with callers in their own language. The service is offered on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. After these hours, information is available on tape in English, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin.
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