SOUTH FLORIDA – Make no mistake about it. According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Florida ranks third in the U.S. in human trafficking cases reported by states, behind only California and Texas.
The hotline received more than 41,000 calls and identified 10,949 victims of human trafficking in 2018 experiencing a 25 percent jump from 2017. In 2019, the Florida Abuse Hotline received 201 calls of suspected human trafficking cases of minors verifying 60 of those cases.
January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, a time to call attention to the growing epidemic here in our community and worldwide. In support of a vision for a community free from human trafficking and to further support awareness, Broward County Commissioners presented a proclamation to the Nancy J. Cotterman Center proclaiming January 2020 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
“We encourage individuals to speak up and for all communities to stand up for all victims of human trafficking,” said Carol Cook, Director of Crisis Intervention and Support Division.
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery by which traffickers profit from the control and exploitation of others. Under U.S. law human trafficking is defined as the transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing or obtaining of another person for transport; for the purposes of forced labor, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation using force, fraud and/or coercion.
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, call the Nancy J. Cotterman Center at 954-761-7273 or the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. The Nancy J. Cotterman Center is Broward’s only 24/7 Sexual Assault Treatment and Children’s Advocacy Center. Services provided are free and confidential. Visit Broward.org/NancyJCottermanCenter.
