Every 30 Seconds

July 30th is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Human Trafficking is a heinous crime where people are forcefully sold/traded to others for the purpose of manual labor, sexual slavery, or exploitation of any kind against that person’s will. No one is immune from being trafficked. Anyone of any age, gender, or race can be a victim. It violates human rights as a captor, or trafficker, restricts another person’s movements by force, coercion, and other violent means. During and a few days after a crisis will most likely be chaos, which results in many people trusting the wrong people with their safety.

Situational Awareness

According to crime statistics, someone is abducted for trafficking reasons every 30 seconds across the globe. This is also the most dangerous and unpredictable time, as adrenaline runs high on both sides during the abduction. The abductor will want to take you in alive, but at the same time, you are disposable to them, so if you fight too much, they’ll kill you right where you stand. Try to remember as much as possible about this day. What do the traffickers look like? What vehicle are you in? Count how many, of which type, of turn they make. The more information you can provide to the cops, the higher the chance that the people who trafficked you will be arrested for their crimes.

S.E.R.E.

Once you find an opening to escape, use it! Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (or SERE for short) is a US military training program designed to train soldiers on what to do should they end up captured behind enemy lines. Once you escape from your captors, you’ll want to blend in with the surroundings. Avoid grassy or high foliage areas as this can leave trails behind you called flagging. If out in a public setting, make yourself part of a passing group by mixing into them discreetly. If you are getting abducted, scream fire instead of help. Police officers have proven that yelling this will most likely attract the attention of passersby and neighbors in that area. Something the trafficker doesn’t want. Also, attracting a lot of attention will make them less inclined to kill you for screaming.

Keeping Fit

Though not the best time to exercise, you should still do it as often as you can. Exercising will give you something to do to keep your mind off the current situation. Working out can help keep your energy up and curb depressive feelings. Focus on cardiovascular or strength training-based ones, like push-ups or jumping jacks. Do mental exercises as well, like remembering lines or scenes from your favorite movie or show. This will help you keep things in perspective, and your mind sharp so you’ll be able to spot escape opportunities sooner. Craft reunion speeches for your loved ones for when you are rescued can help keep your feet grounded and serve as a goal.

Try To Establish A Timeline

This may be hard to do, but it’ll provide you with a scope of your situation. Depending on the state you live in, a missing person is pronounced dead if not found in five to seven years. This may seem like a long time, but they declare most cases cold and push it to the side within 72 hours of your disappearance. Since most people believe in the 48-hour myth, that’s two days gone already. Another benefit of establishing a timeline is it can help you plan an escape by studying your captor, or captors, schedule. It will also give you insight into their behaviors and patterns, providing information about their lives in the outside world. This information could lead to their arrest.

Handling Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome is a coping mechanism a victim develops to survive a dangerous and violent situation. Over time, the victim often grows feelings for the trafficker, or traffickers, as a way of mentally handling the situation. By doing this, they reason and sympathize with them. They’ll believe the stories that they are being told about how nobody is looking for them, and that the captors would love them if they just... This isn’t true, and as hard as it is, try not to believe them. They are telling you a lie to prevent you from escaping, or sometimes helping with the crime. We classify Stockholm Syndrome in the same group as PTSD or Acute Stress Disorder and handled it similarly treatment-wise.

If you, or someone you know, is a victim of Human Trafficking call the hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or online at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/