During this month’s Super Bowl, the FBI recovered 16 teens as young as 13 who were involved in sex trafficking operations. These children are safe now, but the issue didn’t end with the game. Sex trafficking occurs every day in this country, in every state, and it involves children from every socio-economic group.

Once you know about sex trafficking, especially if you’re a parent, you can’t stop thinking about these kids, targeted in their own communities and over the Internet and lured into a nightmare of slavery.
Jane Quinn and I realized as co-owners of St. Louis-based Nix Conference & Meeting Management, that we could do something about it. We started talking about the issue with every hotel where we do business. We encourage hotel managers to set policies, and train their staff to recognize and report possible signs of sex trafficking.

We also launched Exchange Initiative, a new social action organization that is presenting “IGNITE: Sparking Action Against Sex Trafficking,” a national conference that will be held in St. Louis March 2-4 at the St. Louis Union Station DoubleTree Hotel.

We’re bringing together all of the stakeholders — criminal justice professionals, first responders, corporate travelers, not-for-profit and faith-based organizations, and educators — to learn how to fight sex trafficking.
Exchange Initiative also is developing resources, including a database of hotel room photos to help investigators quickly identify a trafficked child’s location by comparing room photos displayed in online sex ads to those in the database.

If you assume that human trafficking has nothing to do with you, or there’s nothing you can do to stop it, you would be wrong.

Anyone can help fight sex trafficking by being aware of the signs and learning what to do. Whether you travel on business or pleasure, watch for the “red flags” of a trafficking situation. Call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at (888) 373-7888, local law enforcement, or the U.S. Department of Justice trafficking hotline at (888) 428-7581 if you see someone who:
• Appears helpless, shamed, afraid, nervous or disoriented;
• Avoids eye contact;
• Is emotionally flat or confused;
• Won’t speak for his or her self;
• Gives scripted answers, inconsistent stories or blatant lies;
• Has no personal items, money or ID;
• Shows signs of abuse, such as bruising;
• Appears malnourished;
• Wears inappropriate clothing;
• Has tattoos that reflect ownership or money.

You can learn more about sex trafficking, Exchange Initiative and the “IGNITE” conference at www.exchangeinitiative.com/ignite.

Molly Hackett is principal of Nix Conference & Meeting Management Exchange Initiative. She and Nix co-ownerJane Quinn were the first to sign the ECPAT Meeting Planners Code of Conduct and are active in developing events and resources to fight sex trafficking.

St. Louis Business Journal ©February 2014