Study: NMI needs to do more to prevent minor sex trafficking

The CNMI is at a critical point in preventing domestic minor sex trafficking, a founder of a national organization aimed at preventing human trafficking said Saturday.

Linda Smith, founder of Shared Hope International, shared the results of an assessment the organization conducted on island with several juvenile welfare agencies in April. CNMI was one of 10 locations examined.

Although the CNMI has taken steps to prevent and prosecute human trafficking cases, a major problem is a lack of identification for domestic minor cases, Smith said. Many sexual abuse cases are not examined for minor sex trafficking.

“It does appear there is a lack of an intake structure,” she said. “They don’t necessarily have a way of looking at it to say, ‘OK, is this child a trafficking victim?’”

The Commonwealth enacted a law in 2005 making trafficking humans a crime, but all of the research and findings were based on foreign—not domestic—cases, Smith said.

Many places, the CNMI included, believe they don’t have a problem with domestic sex trafficking, instead focusing on foreign sex trafficking, she added.

“So I don’t think very many places realize they have the number of domestic minor sex trafficking victims because they aren’t looking for them,” she said. “When I describe what DMST is, it’s like an ‘aha!’”

It’s important that first responders — law enforcement and Division of Youth Services — know what to look for, Melissa Snow, project director for the assessment, said.

“If those key people are not trained to know what to look for, then it is very easy to miss the issue of commercial sex exploitation,” she said.

According to the assessment, local law enforcement received basic human sex trafficking training, but did not include domestic minor training.

“That first responder training is absolutely critical…that is a key recommendation,” Snow said.

The CNMI Human Trafficking Intervention Coalition works to educate, but, again they mainly focus on foreign nationals, Smith said.

No minors have been arrested for prostitution in the CNMI, which is a positive, Smith said, because prostitution arrests in minors are often an indicator of domestic minor sex trafficking. There have also been no arrests for pimping juveniles, the assessment states, although a recent case under investigation might be a first for the CNMI under the 2005 law. There are allegations a young local woman was pimping her minor friend.

Smith said there are two growing vulnerabilities for CNMI. A growing methamphetamine problem means there are people selling their children in order to make money to buy drugs or in exchange for drugs.

“There were several different people that stated hearing rumors in doing investigations that in order for the mother to obtain drugs, the mother would provide her child to somebody in lieu of money to obtain meth,” Snow said.

In such cases, Snow said, the family members are becoming the traffickers.

The CNMI’s tourism environment is also a factor, Smith said.

“People actually do things on vacation they would not do at home. We all know that. It’s just the way it goes,” she said.

That is one reason why it is important to raise the age limit local girls can work in venues that serve alcohol. The age limit is currently 16, but Smith said it needs to be 21.

“It just jumped out at me when I saw that law,” she said. “You’re going to put a beautiful, young 16 year old right in front of [tourists] in an environment where alcohol is served.” Most of the venues are sexual in nature, such as a strip club, as well, she said.

Smith said the age limit for purchasing alcohol and tobacco are higher, and working in a venue with alcohol should be no different.

“Why would we think a commercial sex venue would be less dangerous than these other areas that we’re restricting to protect the child,” she said.

Snow said the CNMI is at a different place than the other locations assessed.

“What’s unique about the CNMI is here, you all are in a position of prevention,” she said. “You haven’t really hit a peak yet, but there are points of vulnerability.”

In addition to the CNMI, SHI conducted the study in Clearwater, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Independence, Missouri; Las Vegas, Nevada; Buffalo, New York; Salt Lake City, Utah; Fort Worth, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and Dallas, Texas.