Human trafficking is regarded as the fastest growing criminal activity in the United States today. It's a multi-billion dollar industry that impacts millions of people around the world.
And for this reason, motel and hotel companies have ventured to come up with proactive steps to try and tackle human trafficking.
A great deal of reports that get made are coming from someone who had direct contact with a potential victim at some point, and some hotels have even been sued for their alleged negligence in the matter and for having profited from the crime.
Seeing as the motel and hotel industry have become the backdrop for a great deal of victimization to take place in the human trafficking market, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Airbnb might also face similar issues. And they are.
According to the Toronto police, there is a growing trend that involves people who are using Airbnb rentals to carry out their crimes and exploit human trafficking victims.
In the past 2 years they say that they have seen a dramatic increase in the number of cases.
To try and address the growing issue of human trafficking, hotels, motels, and now Airbnb, are working with a leading anti-human trafficking organization that is known as Polaris. Airbnb will be sharing extensive reservation data with Polaris so that they can help them to potentially identify any problems.
One effort to try and address the issue of human trafficking, involved the development of a clever app was designed over a year ago, known as TraffickCam, that provides a platform for users to snap pictures of hotel rooms or motel rooms that they stay in, which it then uses to try and determine the whereabouts of perpetrators.
There are already more than 100,000 people who have experimented with using the app and they've already got more than 150k hotels that have been included in the database of crowd-sourced photos.
Today it's estimated that more than half of the hotels in the U.S. are trained on how to prevent and possibly disrupt sex trafficking, but obviously there is still a glaring problem because millions are still being victimized.
According to Polaris, their data indicates that the state that sees the most trafficking = Ohio.
And they are followed by Florida, Texas, California, and New York.
Pics:
via ABC7news
pixabay
pixabay
Sources:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/airbnb-rentals-being-used-for-alleged-human-trafficking-toronto-police/article38066008/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bradley-myles/combating-human-trafficking-in-the-hotel-industry_b_7840754.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/40510138/hotels-are-key-in-the-fight-to-end-human-trafficking
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/travel/new-report-human-trafficking-exploitation-of-hotel-industry-workers.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sex-trafficking-case-1.4546837
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-assemblywoman-teams-advocate-eradicate-human-trafficking-hotels-n733496
https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/09/tech/traffickcam-sex-trafficking/index.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2017/09/30/hotels-take-on-child-sex-slavery/#7f3d0f887fbf
Sad to see this happening and why is no one doing anything about it ? Humanity has been lost among us all. I’m sad that I live in such a country
Okay, I am from Toronto and I can confirm that this is real and it actually happened to the unit next to our old condo right in downtown Toronto.
We were aware that our next door unit is being use for short term rental (although not airbnb specifically). Most of the time, they were just tourists from around the world.
However, one time, we noticed local strangers (all men) waiting in the lobby and then they would be brought up to the unit right next to us.
Also, we saw a girl out on the balcony who wore the same clothes for a few days. But she didn't seem distress or anything and was just chilling.
Our condo board was well aware of the airbnb operation and we had informed security. That condo has state of the art security and we paid high maintenance fee and etc. But there was nothing the condo board could do to stop these type of illegal activities or stop the owner from doing short term rental.
We weren't happy and were worried that some drug dealers might also use airbnb for wild party and to sell drugs as well. So in the end, we decided to sell and move.
People, it could happen anywhere. Personally, I had used airbnb and loved the experience every time. My airbnb hosts also gave me very high rating.
It is so so sad that criminals have found a way to operate using airbnb.
Human trafficking is pretty scary.
We even have a huge sign in the bar at my restaurant that states....
"No human trafficking. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
That's a pretty strange sign to have in the bar of a restaurant if you ask me.
It just goes to show that it's a real problem and needs to be taken seriously.
Wow. I have never really thought about Airbnb like that, and I know that human trafficking is a big problem but I didn't realize that it was this huge.
It is a really great idea to train the Hotel staff to keep aware of situations like this, it could really be a huge help.
I just can't believe how sick this world is, so I never really think of things like this when I go and stay in a hotel, or at all, since I will never understand how sick and unhuman people are.
Great post @doitvolutarily, it's great to be aware.
I'm disgusted, but not surprised. I bet before long we'll be hearing cries of "shut down AirBnB to stop human trafficking!" People don't understand that depraved individuals find a way. They don't care about laws or bans, obviously. The only way to stop them is to be observant and vigilant. The traffickcam app is a great idea, but I bet traffickers will begin posing their victims in front of blank walls or even portable screens to prevent being detected by location. These operations keep moving the victims around so much, it's almost impossible to track them. It's goddamn heartbreaking.
This is so pathetic but i am glad that the hotels are working hard to tackle the situation on ground.
thousands of hotel employees have received training over the years, coaching them on what to possibly look for, warning signs, to help identify possible human trafficking situations
I believe it will come to an end soon
So sad that so many prey on the defenseless! If we see something out of order or suspicious we need to take appropriate action. I live in the Philippines and this is a big problem here. Even the trafficking of babies.
God expose these and hear the cry of the helpless and help each one of us do our part.
I will soon move to the United States, and will use Airbnb because many friends have been advised to try it, But I will review it after reading your article.
This is so pathetic. If it is happening in the US, I wonder what is happening IN other countries. Good to make public issues like this @doitvoluntarily.
One of the reasons I enjoy using airbnb is the privacy I could never get in a hotel. It's both clients of the hotel as well as stuff. This article shed a new light, I never thought of it before. It's interesting how those static would look in Europe...
unfortunately this is a problem worldwide, in Argentina there are more and more cases linked to this issue, many women, especially adolescents, are kidnapped and put to work.
The surroundings of the countries benefit the perpetrators, the girls kidnapped in my country are transferred to neighboring countries like, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia and vice versa. Social networks are the main attraction to perform the seguestros.
This issue is very worrying to our rulers.
Thank you very much dear friend @doitvoluntarily for sharing this information
I wish you a great day
Excelente post, saludos.
In the future, with the increase in technology, crimes will move to a new level :/
We believe we live in a country that is ranked in the top 10 for human trafficking- Thailand. There are so many organisations tackling the issue that even with all their efforts combined it's still a big issue.
One can easily turn a blind eye, but with more awareness and courage it can be fought back!
What are the solutions for Airbnb? Train the host to recognise the signs? That would be a big effort and you never know if you're training the human trafficker, so they will end up changing their approach.
It's not easy at all! Thanks for bringing this topic up @doitvoluntarily
Excelente post amiga me encanto
This is important info. Thanks for sharing.
This blog is really helpful. I like your post. Thank you so much for sharing this important things.
I am glad that Airbnb is working with Polaris to help put an end to human trafficking. Thanks for a great read. 🐓🐓