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Calling on Village Voice Media to shut down the adult section of its online classified site, Backpage.com, because it serves as a platform to traffic minors for sex.
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WHEREAS, according to the United States' Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, human trafficking is defined as the "recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person to perform labor or a commercial sex act through force, fraud, or coercion;" and
WHEREAS, in addition, according to the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ"), the TVPA further states that "any commercial sex act performed by a person under age 18 is considered human trafficking, regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion is involved;" and
WHEREAS, a DOJ Office of Justice Programs (OJP) December 2011 Fact Sheet on Human Trafficking States that as many as 300,000 children are at risk for sexual exploitation each year in the United States; and
WHEREAS, according to data compiled both by The Advocates for Human Rights and the Minnesota Office of Justice Programs of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, the scope of sex trafficking sex in Minnesota, includes the following:
· Over a three year period ending in 2008, service providers identified 731 sex trafficking victims;
· 124 girls were sold on the internet in the month of August 2010 alone, which is a 55% increase since February 2010;
· The average age of a girl's entry into prostitution/sex trafficking is 12 to 14 years old;
· According to one service provider, 8,000 to 12,000 people are estimated to be involved in prostitution/sex trafficking in Minnesota every day.
WHEREAS, in Ramsey County, the Runaway Intervention Project ("RIP") has gained national attention as a best results oriented model for working with teen runaways of girls 15 and younger, including teen girls who have been prostituted. The Juvenile Division of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office ("RCAO") refers those girls who...
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