(RNS) — The Jeffrey Epstein story has dominated headlines over many years for good reasons. It reveals the depravity that occurs when power and wealth prey upon the most vulnerable.
But the truth is, it is just one example of millions.
Today, an estimated 50 million people around the world are reported to be living in modern-day slavery. In human trafficking, dignity and autonomy are stripped from a person with coercion or force. Traffickers who perpetuate this economically motivated crime display a terrifying disregard for human life. Survivors recount cycles of unimaginable physical and sexual abuse. The scale is staggering, and the cruelty is deliberate.
When we think of human trafficking, many picture billionaires on private jets or hidden islands, with people like Epstein coming top of mind. That does happen — but it is the exception. The rule is sadly that trafficking is far more ordinary and far more widespread than most of us realize.
In the world’s poorest countries, and even in the United States, trafficking often unfolds in plain sight — at crowded bus stations, train platforms, border crossings and along dusty roads. It is in those ordinary places that organizations like the one I work for, Love Justice International, step in and stop it.
We are a Christian organization that uses transit monitoring as our primary strategy to prevent people from being trafficked and stop traffickers before they can harm people. We believe it is by far the most effective way to fight it. Transit monitors stand in key transit hubs — like border crossings, bus and train stations, and airports — and look for warning signs. When they see them, our trained staff ask questions, verify stories and, when necessary, intercept potential victims, often involving police or contacting families of minors. Intercepted victims may stay at a shelter briefly, receive education about trafficking and are reunited with their families.
Our average cost to intercept one potential victim is just $112.
During a recent operation in Kampala, Uganda, Love Justice’s transit monitoring team intercepted not just potential victims but a trafficking network in action. Our staff identified three young girls traveling with a stranger and were able to share contact information and help the girls discreetly so the trafficker did not notice. This led to the rescue of all three victims and the arrest of five additional trafficking suspects who have now been charged with aggravated human trafficking.
This case represents just one of many similar situations being intercepted daily to prevent exploitation, and it underscores the efficiency of transit monitoring to disrupt trafficking networks and prevent future victims.
Each intercept not only saves one life but also disrupts trafficking systems themselves. Those additional five suspects, who were not with the girls when they were intercepted, can no longer harm additional people. Every successful intercept and arrest of a trafficker helps to find and deter further abuse of human rights, weaken trafficking networks and reduce the overall prevalence of slavery. The visible presence of our monitors, the awareness survivors carry home, a better-educated general public and the stories of those protected can make a drastic impact.
When harmful behaviors go unchecked, even small disruptions can spark outsized change. Just as a single police car parked on a highway reduces speeding and one security camera can deter shoplifting, in trafficking hotspots, transit monitoring is a visible deterrent — a line of defense where there was none.
According to research published in the peer-reviewed Anti-Trafficking Review, the U.S. allocated more than $1.2 billion to anti-trafficking efforts from 2017 to 2021, yet only 13% ($203 million) was solely focused on prevention of the first instance of trafficking, and most of that went to research ($73 million) or awareness efforts ($22 million). Only 1.3% went to addressing the social conditions, or root causes, driving trafficking.
The world is right to focus on Epstein. He was a monster. But we shouldn’t stop there. With the same fervor of attention and passion, we should and must protect and prevent people being trafficked today.
The resources we have and the choices we make can disrupt trafficking where it is most rampant. By focusing our efforts where change is possible, we can help drive the downfall of modern slavery, protecting the freedom of millions of precious lives worldwide.
(John Molineux is CEO and founder at Love Justice International, a faith-based anti-human trafficking organization dedicated to fighting injustice around the world through transit monitoring. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of RNS.)
