Price of Life NYC

The New York City Price of Life Invitational scheduled for fall 2013 is a city-wide, campus-based, faith-inspired campaign addressing human trafficking in all its forms, sponsored by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, World Vision, and a diverse coalition of organizations.

Posts tagged survivor

May 10

“Having had a few years experience with these two laws … we’ve learned that there are some gaps and inconsistencies in the law that we need to address to improve our response.”

New York law maker, explaining why she is sponsoring the Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act, a bill to better protect trafficking survivors and hold pimps and johns accountable.

This article describes a recent advocacy day supporting the TVPJA, and includes a video of a survivor’s testimony.

Join the next advocacy day! See here for details, and join the conference call today at 3 PM.

Apr 12

Why doesn’t she just leave?

Have you ever wondered why a trafficking victim would stay with her trafficker? Why someone who is being abused doesn’t run away? Why a victim may find it difficult to testify against her abuser?

Read this first person account by a trafficking survivor for a fuller picture of this complex question.

By the time the trafficker spotted me in that New Jersey shopping mall, I had already been broken down.

As traffickers are skilled predators, they look for girls that are withdrawn and quiet. They prey upon minors with emotional brokenness as my trafficker did in late June, 1992, soon after my eighth grade middle school graduation.

Child sexual abuse paralyzes many children with the inability to differentiate a healthy relationship from an exploitative one. I, too, thought that exploitive relationships were the norm. Prior to meeting my trafficker, I was already used to relationships based on deception.

Many victims do not understand their fundamental right to say “No.” They often fail to understand ownership over their bodies. I didn’t run away when my trafficker demanded that I agree to prostitute.

This was not because I wanted to stay but rather because I didn’t understand that I had another option.

Apr 5

“Currently in the state of Oregon, you do less time for selling women than you do for selling drugs.”

Jeri Sundvall-Williams, former trafficking victim now running for Portland, OR City Council. Read her inspirational story here.

She goes on to explain that because drugs get more jail time than pimping,

gangs have taken [selling human beings] as a moneymaker. They’ve been doing it for years but it’s really become more popular. Gangs will trade women across Blood-Crip lines or whatever because women are worth less than drugs to them, but they also will do less time in jail for selling women than they will for selling drugs.

If laws reflect a society’s values, what does this say about us? What kind of laws would we have if we valued the lives of human beings of all backgrounds as priceless, made in the image of God?