The Westmoreland County Courthouse dome will be bathed in blue light every night Jan. 9-15 to drive home the reality that human trafficking cuts across all geographic and social lines.
Renee Reitz, a spokeswoman for the Westmoreland Human Trafficking Task Force, said it’s important that people realize these crimes may well be happening in their own backyards.
The blue lights on the dome are an effort to raise awareness of those crimes during National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
The Human Trafficking Task Force, a multi-disciplinary group including representatives from the Westmoreland County courts, law enforcement and the community, wants people to realize how prevalent this is around the globe. According the International Labour Organization, it is an illicit business that brings in nearly $100 billion a year worldwide as it exploits up to 5 million people including many women and children.
Reitz said human trafficking ranges from off-shore organized crime syndicates that enslave Asian women in massage parlors, to restaurant and farm owners who import and exploit laborers who can’t speak English, to families who exploit domestic workers, or prostitute women and children.
But too many people tend to wrongly relegate the notion of human trafficking to international crime rings.
“When people think of traffickers, they don’t think of a family member, a friend, a boss or someone in a trusted position,” Reitz said. “We’re seeing it more so in the homes. Unless something is said, it remains unknown.
”We know it’s happening. Law enforcement knows it’s happening. But it’s a very long process to get all the evidence they need to prosecute.”
She said many times, victims don’t even realize they have been exploited, lured into a live of servitude.
“Many times it begins with a trusted relationship,” Reitz said.
Those who suspect they have been trafficked or that human trafficking may be occurring in their communities can reach out to the Blackburn Center for more information at the Center’s hotline at 888-832-2272
