By Dawn Logg (WSPA)
(COLUMBIA, SC)
It’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month and the state is trying to bring it to an end.
Attorney General Alan Wilson released the Human Trafficking Task Force Annual Report yesterday.
It uses data of the state’s human trafficking records to move forward with combating the issue.
The report highlights progress, goals, and what the task force is already working on. Click here to read the full report.
Wilson said this data has only been accessible for the last couple years and it is helpful for the fight against Human Trafficking.
This data helped the task force organize training programs for service providers that range from judges, to nurses, so they know how to handle any situation faced with the possibility of a human trafficking case.
The task force has opened several shelters for victims throughout the state, they give public awareness, ongoing victim assistance and more.
“People have got to understand that the girl across the street could be a victim of human trafficking,” Atty Gen. Alan Wilson said. “Or that the couple across the street or the guy across the street could be a human ‘trafficker’.”
Megan Madsen is a human trafficking survivor who now advocates to spread awareness. She also attended the last task force meeting in December.
“As a survivor I just feel that it’s very important that people are aware of the services that are out there, and the services that need to be established,” Madsen said.
General Wilson said human trafficking is a $150 billion enterprise per year affecting nearly 21 million victims worldwide and it happens in South Carolina on a regular basis.
“South Carolina has identified this is a problem, we have been given the resources to combat this problem, and that is what this report basically shows,” Wilson said.
