Stop Child Trafficking Now

Last updated
Stop Child Trafficking Now
Type IGO [ inconsistent ]
PurposeTo combat the trafficking of children
Official language
English
Key people
 Lynette Lewis
Website www.sctnow.org [ dead link ]

Stop Child Trafficking Now (also called SCTNow) was a not-for-profit[ clarification needed ] organization founded[ when? ] by Lynette Lewis, an author and public speaker. [1] This nonprofit organization [2] engaged in advocacy work in an attempt to bring an end to the trafficking of children. [3] SCTNow targeted the demand for human trafficking, focusing on pedophiles, child abductions and child pornography. [4] The group sought to have those who sexually abuse children prosecuted and convicted. [5]

Contents

Activities

The organization organized annual walks to raise funds and awareness about the issue. In 2009, organizers claimed to have organized walks in 41 cities nationwide and hoped to raise over a million dollars. [6] [7] The group organized a protest at Phillips Square, Montreal, Quebec, Canada in September 2009. [8] The first walk took place in September 2011 in Augusta, Georgia, United States. [9] [ failed verification ][ inconsistent ] SCTNow events have been held in more than 35 cities in the United States. [10] [ failed verification ]

A focus of Stop Child Trafficking Now's fundraising campaigns was tapping donors to support an effort led by Clark Stuart, a former U.S. Navy SEAL described as the group's "operations president," for what Stuart described as an elite team made up of former American law enforcement officers and former U.S. military who would hunt down Americans who trafficked children for sex in foreign countries. According to individuals approached by Stuart to make donations, the culprits would be handed over to government authorities for prosecution abroad or in the U.S. [11] [ failed verification ] Tulsa, Oklahoma, Police Chief Chuck Jordan agreed to accept the group's national database of information about child traffickers and child predators for its possible value in assessing child sex trafficking. [12] [ failed verification ]

Closure

The organization ceased to exist[ when? ] after questions were raised about fundraising improprieties. [13] [ failed verification ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex tourism</span> Travel to engage in sexual activity

Sex tourism refers to the practice of traveling to foreign countries, often on a different continent, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity or relationships in exchange for money or lifestyle support. This practice predominantly operates in countries where sex work is legal but there are countries where laws prohibit sex work. The World Tourism Organization of the United Nations has acknowledged this industry is organised both within and outside the structured laws and networks created by them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child prostitution</span> Prostitution involving a child

Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking</span> Trade of sexual slaves

Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the crime are called sex traffickers or pimps—people who manipulate victims to engage in various forms of commercial sex with paying customers. Sex traffickers use force, fraud, and coercion as they recruit, transport, and provide their victims as prostitutes. Sometimes victims are brought into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s), financially or emotionally. Every aspect of sex trafficking is considered a crime, from acquisition to transportation and exploitation of victims. This includes any sexual exploitation of adults or minors, including child sex tourism (CST) and domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Justice Mission</span> Non-profit organisation in the US

International Justice Mission is an international, non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization focused on human rights, law and law enforcement. Founded in 1997 by lawyer Gary Haugen of the United States, it is based in Washington, D.C. All IJM employees are required to be practicing Christians; 94% are nationals of the countries they work in.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in the Philippines</span>

Human trafficking and the prostitution of children has been a significant issue in the Philippines, often controlled by organized crime syndicates. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity.

The North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) is a pedophilia and pederasty advocacy organization in the United States. It works to abolish age-of-consent laws criminalizing adult sexual involvement with minors and campaigns for the release of men who have been jailed for sexual contacts with minors that did not involve what it considers coercion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking</span> Trade of humans for the purpose of forced labor, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation

Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extraction of organs or tissues, including for surrogacy and ova removal. Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people, especially women and children, and does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human trafficking in the United States</span>

In the United States, human trafficking tends to occur around international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, notably in California, Texas, and Georgia. The U.S. Justice Department estimates that 35,500–170,500 people enter illegally into the country every year. The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that, including U.S. citizens and immigrants, 57,700 people worldwide are victims of human trafficking. Those trafficked include young children, teenagers, men, and women and can be domestic citizens or foreign nationals.

<i>Nefarious: Merchant of Souls</i> 2011 film by Benjamin Nolot

Nefarious: Merchant of Souls is a 2011 American documentary film about modern human trafficking, specifically sexual slavery. Presented from a Christian worldview, Nefarious covers human trafficking in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, alternating interviews with re-enactments. Victims of trafficking talk about having been the objects of physical abuse and attempted murder. Several former prostitutes talk about their conversion to Christianity, escape from sexual oppression, and subsequent education or marriage. The film ends with the assertion that only Jesus can completely heal people from the horrors of sexual slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking</span> Canadian action plan established in 2012

The National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking is a four-year action plan that was established by the Government of Canada on June 6, 2012 to oppose human trafficking in Canada. In 2004, the government's Interdepartmental Working Group on Trafficking in Persons was mandated to create a national anti-human-trafficking plan, but the mandate went unfulfilled despite reminders from politicians and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Member of Parliament (MP) Joy Smith put forward motion C-153 in February 2007 to put a plan in place, and the House of Commons passed it unanimously. Smith began developing a proposal and released it in September 2010 under the title "Connecting the Dots". University of British Columbia law professor Benjamin Perrin helped guide Smith's writing of the proposal. Before the establishment of the NAP-CHT, a variety of people and organizations—including the 2009 and 2010 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Reports of the United States Department of State—criticized Canada for failing to have such a plan.

Timea Nagy is a Canadian activist who has spoken on behalf of victims of human trafficking. She founded Walk With Me, a Toronto-based organization that aids survivors of trafficking. Nagy was featured in an anti-trafficking campaign by the Salvation Army in 2009. Her activism has drawn upon her own experience of forced prostitution in Canada.

International Day of No Prostitution (IDNP) is an awareness day celebrated to oppose the practice of sex work. First observed in 2002, the event takes place annually on the 5th of October.

<i>Not My Life</i> 2011 film by Robert Bilheimer

Not My Life is a 2011 American independent documentary film about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. The film was written, produced, and directed by Robert Bilheimer, who had been asked to make the film by Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bilheimer planned Not My Life as the second installment in a trilogy, the first being A Closer Walk and the third being the unproduced Take Me Home. The title Not My Life came from a June 2009 interview with Molly Melching, founder of Tostan, who said that many people deny the reality of contemporary slavery because it is an uncomfortable truth, saying, "No, this is not my life."

Operation Stormy Nights was an early major anti-human-trafficking operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Operations took place in Oklahoma and brought to light organized crime networks trafficking female minors along United States Numbered Highways, where the girls were forced into prostitution to service truck drivers.

Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) is a nonprofit organization that trains truck drivers to recognize and report instances of human trafficking. This national organization formed in Oklahoma, United States, in 2009 and teaches truck drivers about the results of human trafficking. TAT is based in Colorado and its executive director is Kendis Paris.

Run for Courage is a nonprofit organization that combats human trafficking. The organization is based in Sacramento, California, and raises money for human trafficking victims and their families. Ashlie Bryant is the executive director of Run for Courage. The founder was Vicki Zito, whose daughter was abducted at age seventeen and sexually trafficked in the East Bay. The organization was founded in 2009 and holds a charity run annually, raising more than $550,000 within its first four years. In 2010, the funds raised were donated to Courage House, a building in Roseville, California, that houses teen sex trafficking victims. Approximately 2000 people participated in the 2011 run. That year, the funds raised went to Agape International Missions, A New Day For Children, Courage To Be You, and WIND Youth Services. In 2014, FreeFall Stage produced performances of She Has a Name, a play about human trafficking, and Run for Courage partnered in this initiative, having representatives at each performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sex trafficking in the United States</span> Overview of sex trafficking in the United States

Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. It is commonly associated with organized crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Underground Railroad</span> U.S.-based nonprofit organization

Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is a United States-based nonprofit organization which claims to be involved in the rescue of human trafficking and sex trafficking victims, with a special focus on children, and a wider goal of eliminating sex trafficking world-wide. The group was founded in 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Tim Ballard, a former officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cybersex trafficking</span> Online sexual exploitation

Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.

References

  1. ↑ Stephanie G. Henderson (2012). Unforgettable: God's Relentless Heart for His Daughters. CrossBooks Publishing. p. ix. ISBN   978-1462721269.
  2. ↑ "Facebook Anti-Trafficking Partner to Host 33 Walk/Run to 'Stop Child Trafficking Now'". The Salem News. September 8, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ Michael Futch (May 30, 2013). "Bradley Lockhart, Shaniya Davis' father, reflects on Mario McNeill trial and verdict". The Fayetteville Observer . Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  4. ↑ Judy Pochel (September 1, 2011). "Montgomery woman sponsors run to fight child trafficking". The Beacon-News . Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  5. ↑ Natalie Brand (September 16, 2011). "Survivor of sex trafficking covers painful past with tattoo". KPTV . Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  6. ↑ Salonga, Robert. "Bay Area march against child trafficking set for Saturday". Oakland Tribune. ProQuest   352415130.[ dead link ]
  7. ↑ Tara Herrschaft (September 25, 2009). "Stop Child Trafficking Now Walk". WCTV . Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Child trafficking a domestic problem: MP". CTV News . September 27, 2009. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  9. ↑ Kelly Jasper (August 26, 2011). "Race supports anti-child trafficking group". The Augusta Chronicle . Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  10. ↑ Bianca Fortis (September 27, 2009). "Students walk to raise awareness of child trafficking". Central Florida Future . Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  11. ↑ Cabrera, Yvette (27 September 2009). "Retired terror hunters turn sights to child sex slavery". Orange Country Register. ProQuest   274165278.
  12. ↑ Marshall, Nicole (2 December 2010). "Human trafficking in area to be assessed". McClatchy. ProQuest   815308048.
  13. ↑ Moriki, Darin (16 December 2016). "EX-CHIEF'S HUSBAND BASHES INVESTIGATION: SAYS HE AND HIS WIFE HAVE NOT DONE ANYTHING WRONG". East Bay Times. ProQuest   1864938259.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.