|
"Too often in Ohio, young women and men who are forced and
manipulated into the illicit sex trade are arrested and
charged for prostitution - when in fact they are the
victims," said Fedor. "Instead of making it harder for
victims of human trafficking to get the help they need when
they need it, we can modernize outdated laws to put children
first - ahead of abusers and criminals."
The Toledo lawmaker asked the roughly two dozen high school
students alongside her - who had traveled to the Statehouse
today to take part in the first ever Ohio Youth Trafficking
Prevention Summit - to take an active, leading role in the
effort to modernize Ohio´s outdated prostitution and
solicitation laws.
The Safe Harbor Act, passed in 2012, helped create a safe
haven for the victims of human trafficking in part by
establishing greater penalties against those that profit and
engage in human trafficking. The landmark law also shifted
the state for the first time to an approach that treats
survivors like victims - not criminals.
However, Ohio still views 16 and 17-year-old victims as
criminals under its prostitution and solicitation laws. Rep.
Fedor plans to soon introduce legislation to extend Safe
Harbor protections to all human trafficking victims under
the age 18.
"Children who are exploited are not prostitutes - they are
victims," said Maureen Guirguis, co-director of the Case
Western Reserve University Law School Human Trafficking
Clinic. "Men who pay for sex with sixteen and
seventeen-year-olds are effectively buying rape."
According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Information Crime
Reports,
Ohio has
ranked as high as fifth
among all states in total reported human trafficking cases.
Just this week, the nonprofit
Polaris
Project released a report
which found that 375 human trafficking cases from Ohio were
reported to a national hotline last year - a 23 percent
increase over the year before.
"As a community, we must address the neglect, abuse,
violence and drug and mental health issues that leave our
children vulnerable to human trafficking," said Lucas County
Juvenile Court Administrative Judge Denise Cubbon.
Fedor also noted that the
Ohio
attorney general´s office recently announced
they will begin analyzing a missing-child database for red
flags that indicate possible incidents of human trafficking.
"By modernizing our laws and using every tool at our
disposal, I am confident that we can end human trafficking
in Ohio," said Fedor.
For the past 10 years, Rep. Fedor has been a leading
advocate in the fight to end human trafficking. Most
recently, Rep. Fedor passed legislation to address the
demand-side of the illegal sex trafficking trade, End Demand
Act, Sub. H.B. 130. In 2012, the General Assembly passed
Rep. Fedor´s Safe Harbor Act- a victim centered bill aimed
at providing protection, prosecution and prevention. And,
while in the Senate, Fedor passed Ohio´s first bill to
define human trafficking and make it illegal, Senate Bill
235.
|
