Community Corner

Soroptimists to Screen Human Trafficking Documentary, Say Problem Exists in Poway Too

The event will raise funds for the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, a nonprofit that helps and houses victims in San Diego.

To help raise awareness and funds to combat human trafficking in San Diego, Soroptimist International of Poway is screening the CARGO: Innocence Lost documentary at the Poway UltraStar Cinemas on Wednesday.

The film is about the problem of human trafficking throughout the United States.

“It’s really horrendous,” said Marita Harmony, the president of Soroptimist International of Poway, a women’s service organization. “We want to get this movie out to get the people educated on what’s really going on. This goes on in Poway, Rancho Bernardo and throughput San Diego. It’s horrific.”

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San Diego ranks eighth in the nation in child prostitution, according to FBI reports.

Since launching in 2007, the San Diego Regional Anti-Trafficking Task Force has investigated about 335 incidents, said sheriff’s Sgt. Jason King, who heads the task force. Members of the task force have identified about 370 victims and potential victims of trafficking, King added.

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“We do have some labor trafficking that we’ve identified, but for the most part, it’s sex trafficking,” said King, who will speak before the film on Wednesday.

Although human trafficking is a problem in San Diego, King said there are misconceptions about the issue.

“This is really the old prostitution, and people view prostitution as a victimless crime,” he said. “We see it as these girls—I use girls because most of our victims have been girls—they’re victims. They’re not receiving the proceeds of what they’re doing. The pimp is receiving the funds that they’re making.

“Some of them are doing it out of love; they think that they love the person. Others are threatened and beaten. Most of them have a combination of the two.”

Some confuse human trafficking with human smuggling, King said.

“With smuggling, the victim and the trafficker, the relationship between those two people ends once they enter the country. In a smuggling case, once the person is in the country, the person goes one way and the trafficker goes the other way,” he explained. “In human trafficking, that relationship would continue, whether it be the trafficker holds onto their documents, whatever it is. They have to pay off debt…For what we’re seeing in San Diego, mostly by sexual exploitation.”

Although the screening is free, donations will be accepted to benefit the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, a nonprofit organization dedicated to “preventing and intervening in the commercial and sexual exploitation of women and children while advocating for all exploited persons.” The nonprofit, which is based in San Diego, has three safe houses in the county to support victims.

Marisa Ugarte, the founder and executive director of the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, said human trafficking and exploitation "has no boundaries and has no borders.”

“Children and women get sexually exploited within the United States and to the United States,” she said. “In labor exploitation, we have some rings that do the candy sales with children begging and other endeavors.”

Last year, the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition, helped more than 60 people, eight of which resided in the nonprofit’s safe houses. The nonprofit is also opening a thrift store in National City to create jobs and sustain the organization.

“There was nothing in San Diego at the time that we started in 1997 that could protect any of the women and children from being commercially exploited,” Ugarte said. "At that time, not even the word 'trafficking' existed."

But the word exists now and Harmony said the group wants to shine a light on the issue.

“This whole event is totally for public awareness and education,” Harmony said. “People don’t know it’s going on in their own backyard.”

The screening begins at 7 p.m. For more information about the Bilateral Safety Corridor Coalition and to find out how you can help, visit www.bsccoalition.org


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