NET documentary puts spotlight on human trafficking in Nebraska

According to the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force, there are 800 sex workers in the state of Nebraska every month, many of them young females being trafficked against their will. The circles on the map to the right shows communities where activity of human trafficking have occurred in the state.

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, or NET, recently released a news documentary entitled “Sold for Sex: Trafficking in Nebraska” to highlight this increasing problem across the state. 

“The state prides itself on being Nebraska nice, and sometimes to confront our deepest, darkest secret is really hard to do and that deep dark secret is that human trafficking is alive and well,” said Jamie Manzer, executive director of SASA in Hastings, one of the few organizations in the state that helps those who are victims of sex violence. 

According to the documentary, the state is just starting to solidify an approach to stopping human trafficking, with its biggest accomplishment being the establishment of the task force in 2015. 

The biggest goal of the force is to help those who are being victimized and to put a stop to human trafficking.

An awareness campaign has been launched by the force to help law enforcement, health care workers, those in education, those in the hotel/motel industry and others to recognize indicators that someone might be a victim of sex trafficking. Lack of awareness allows trafficking to happen, according to the documentary. 

To view the full documentary, and for more information, click here http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/news/sold-sex