Press Release  DURING NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVENTION MONTH, AG CAMPBELL HIGHLIGHTS RESOURCES FOR THE PUBLIC AND ONGOING EFFORTS TO COMBAT HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Boston — During National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and as part of her ongoing effort to combat human trafficking in Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is sharing materials and resources dedicated to raising awareness and educating the public on how to help identify signs of and report sex and labor trafficking.

“I’m grateful to the survivors who have shared their stories of strength and resilience to help reduce stigma and ensure that we are implementing solutions that are victim-centered and trauma-informed,” said AG Campbell. “Human trafficking thrives in the shadows and survivors are the ones that help bring this issue to light. I remain committed to directing the Attorney General’s Office to make human trafficking prevention and prosecution a top priority.”

AG Campbell has made protecting vulnerable people and communities a priority of her office. In December of 2023, AG Campbell announced the first labor trafficking conviction in the history of the AGO. The defendant was convicted on 11 counts of Trafficking of Persons for Forced Services and one count of Assault and Battery under a 2011 law that established human trafficking for sexual servitude and forced labor, also known as labor trafficking, as criminal acts under state law.

In November of 2023, AG Campbell wrote a letter in support of H1579/S983, An Act to strengthen justice and support for sex trade survivors, known as the “Equality Model Bill.” This bill would decriminalize the act of selling sex while leaving in place criminal liability and penalties for individuals who pay for sex and/or engage in sex trafficking. The bill also provides for expungement of past convictions related to prostitution-type offenses, such as common nightwalking or streetwalking and prostitution. “This legislation acknowledges the lived reality of survivors and is responsive to that reality,” AG Campbell wrote in the letter, “This bill also recognizes that persons who are sold for sex are victims of exploitation, not equal participants in criminal activity.”

AG Campbell’s Human Trafficking Division is a multidisciplinary team dedicated to prosecuting and preventing human trafficking through law enforcement efforts and policy development. The Fair Labor Division is responsible for enforcing state laws regarding the payment of wages, prevailing wage, minimum wage, earned sick time, overtime, and labor trafficking.

Together, they have created the following resources for members of the public, municipalities, law enforcement and the business community:

• Understanding the signs of labor trafficking video: Watch and share this video created by the Attorney General’s Office designed to help the public understand and uncover signs of labor trafficking and where to refer suspicious activity. The video is also available in Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.
• Labor trafficking training opportunities: The AGO’s Human Trafficking and Fair Labor Divisions are partnering with different cities and agencies across the Commonwealth, such as the City of Boston, City of Salem, the Western MA Human Trafficking Group, and the Massachusetts Police Training Committee, to host trainings on recognizing labor trafficking for law enforcement, prosecutors, and code enforcement inspectors who enforce local building and sanitation codes. A past webinar on labor trafficking geared toward municipal employees is here.
• Human trafficking training opportunities: The office can provide awareness trainings to businesses and organizations, covering issues such as labor trafficking, sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children. You can request a human trafficking training presentation, here.

There are several important online resources available to individuals experiencing human or labor trafficking or those who know someone being trafficked. The National Human Trafficking Hotline phone number is 1-800-373-7888, or you can visit the website at https://humantraffickinghotline.org/en. There is also the RESULT App which stands for Recognize & Evaluate Signs to Uncover Labor Trafficking which was developed by the Attorney General's Office in partnership with Boston University School of Law, and the BU Spark! Initiative at BU’s Hariri Institute for Computing to help identify potential labor trafficking cases and connect victims to resources. The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Division can be contacted by phone at 617-727-3465, by email at labortrafficking@mass.gov or through the website at www.mass.gov/ago/lt. As always, if someone is in immediate danger, individuals should always call 911.

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