Human Trafficking A Real Concern For Tennesseans
Image Credit: Engage Together & Students For Life Action
The Tennessee Conservative [By Rebecca Scott] –
A 2023 report has been released highlighting human trafficking risks in the state of Tennessee.
According to their website, Engage Together is an organization dedicated to eradicating human trafficking and protecting those most vulnerable to being trafficked.
Engage Together linked arms with several Tennessee organizations, including the TBI Human Trafficking Task Force, to produce a report that looked at four different regions in Tennessee – West, Middle, East, and Upper East.
According to the data collected, every region has counties that are more vulnerable to human trafficking than others, with West Tennessee and Upper East Tennessee regions both falling into the “severe risk of human trafficking” category.
The report highlighted various conditions that notoriously elevate the risk of a given area to be susceptible to human trafficking.
These include “socio-economic vulnerabilities (which include the prevalence of those experiencing poverty and food or housing insecurities),” and “local environment vulnerabilities (which include prevalence of sexual assault, domestic violence, drug offenses and related crimes).” Also of note were” youth vulnerabilities (which include the prevalence of chronically absent, homeless, justice-involved, and/or disconnected youth, and minors with disabilities).”
Human trafficking, a modern day form of slavery, is primarily divided into three main categories – “sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, or organ sales.”
People can no longer deny the terrible reality of human trafficking. The Engage Together report recognized many organizations working to end trafficking and serve victims who have been saved out of the industry. In all regions of Tennessee, the overwhelming majority of agencies working to combat trafficking were non-profit organizations.
A needs assessment was done amongst the organizations and it was found that many of them lack a sufficient amount of the following necessities – food, transportation, gift cards, volunteers and financial support. Other needs were as simple as paper, toiletries, and school supplies. All of these items and services are necessary to the success of agencies working to meet the needs of vulnerable populations.
In Middle Tennessee, most victims are noted as being transient with Davidson County ranking 3rd in the state for the highest risk of human trafficking. The Middle Tennessee region is considered high risk for the presence of human trafficking.
East Tennessee is also considered high risk with several counties considered extremely high risk.
The founder and CEO of Engage Together, Ashleigh Chapman, when explaining how traffickers coerce their victims said, “They’re trying to meet a need with a promise, and then they use force, fraud and coercion to maintain control of that individual and force them into labor or sexual exploitation.”
The United States Department of State estimates that, at any given time, there are approximately 27.6 million victims of trafficking worldwide. This estimate was based on data from 2021.
Tennesseans must be vigilant and educated on human trafficking and the risks within their communities. Engage Together offers training and information for both private citizens and organizations.
Their complete report on the state of Tennessee can be read HERE.
Rebecca Scott is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Rebecca at Rebecca@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
I’m glad The Tennessee Conservative is reporting on this topic . This is a well written, informative article. My question is,why isn’t our government taking a lead in curbing this? It’s a given that non profit and volunteers are generally more effective than our government in addressing issues but it seems to me that by allowing so many illegals into our country the government is feeding the problem.
Totally agree with everything you said and I was just about write the same thing. I would like too know which County in the state is #1 and #2 if Davidson County is #1? I know that Memphis is a Sanctuary City and wonder what that County ranks? We all need to pay attention to this in our own Counties.
I agree, that illegals and gangs are a huge problem and the fact that Sanctuary Cities and lack of tough criminal prosecution of crimes all make it worse. They seem to feel they have a right to comment crimes with no recourse.
How can anyone expect the Feds to do anything about human trafficking when it’s the biggest offender