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March 26, 2010
"People are being bought and sold, and they can be sold again and again and again." - Jerri Nims Rooker
The television talk show The Gwinnett Force featured Center associate director Jerri Nims Rooker in a 30-minute March episode on human trafficking. The Gwinnett Force focuses on issues of abuse and violence in the community.
The show is directed and co-hosted by police sergeant Tracy Lee with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department and airs on TVgwinnett (channel 23). Nims Rooker explained that human trafficking is "modern day slavery for sex or labor services, and it typically involves using force, fraud, or coercion to exploit someone for a profit." When asked how traffickers recruit victims, she pointed out two surprising pieces of data from the International Organization for Migration. First, almost half of trafficking victims know the recruiter, and, second, close to 40% of recruiters are women.
Co-host Julie Mauney commented that many people may not even be aware that human trafficking is a problem. Nims Rooker said, "Most people know about drug trafficking and arms trafficking. But, actually, according to the United Nations, human trafficking is the third largest criminal enterprise in the world after drugs and weapons with a profit of about 32 billion dollars a year."
"It is regrettable to talk about it in terms of people as commodities - as goods and services - but that is what it is," said Nims Rooker. "People are being bought and sold, and they can be sold again and again and again unlike other commodities."
When asked why Atlanta is a prime market for human trafficking, Nims Rooker explained that, in addition to having a major international airport that brings victims and customers into Atlanta, the city is a national destination for legal sex tourism according to the Association of Club Executives.
"It is not a huge stretch to imagine that if someone comes in to use legal sources for purchasing sexual services, such as strip clubs, the person may have a similar demand for illegal sex," said Nims Rooker. "Some people think there are benefits to having a large sex tourism industry here for the money it brings in with conventions, but we have to look at ourselves as a community and ask if this is something we value and want to support with our legislation and our money."
Watch The Gwinnett Force interview on human trafficking with Jerri Nims Rooker.