but it is a reality we need to face. The U.S. 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report states forced labor and sex trafficking occur in all industries within our borders, and involve both foreign and domestic victims. These victims are bought, sold, traded and treated as property—worth noth- ing more than the money they can make for those who control them. Estimating the actual number of trafficking victims in the U.S. is difficult for several reasons: vic- tims often stay silent, afraid to seek help; the public is ignorant as to the signs of trafficking; and traffickers use various modes of transportation to move their vic- tims. Nonetheless, federal and state agencies are starting to take more action. Trafficking offense charges were filed against 377 people by the Department of Justice during the fiscal year 2015; 297 were convicted. The media is starting to bring human trafficking out of the shadows, by reporting the following stories: ■ In 2016, members of a human trafficking ring were con- victed for smuggling teens from Guatemala to the U.S., under false pretenses, and using threats to force them to work at Ohio egg farms. ■ In 2017, eight women were rescued from a luxury home in Atlanta, Georgia, and the man renting the residence was charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking offenses. ■ In 2017, a flight attendant on a commercial flight from Seattle, Washington, took action when she sensed something was wrong with a young teenage Aviation Business Journal | 2nd Quarter 2018 girl who was sitting next to an older man. She discovered the girl was a trafficking victim and arranged for her to receive help. Though it is believed the majority of victims transported by air, travel commercially, it isn’t only commercial flights that traffickers use to transport their current or intended victims. Earlier this year, a Chilean news company revealed that three char- ter airlines transported thousands of men, disguised as tourists, from Haiti to Chile as part of a wide-scale labor trafficking ring. Once in Chile, the men were forced to perform heavy labor for low pay, and endure threats of violence against their families if they refused to comply. After the story broke, flights for one of the three charter airlines were suspended and the company closed its operations three days later. General aviation companies can learn from the actions taken by major airports and airlines across the nation to combat human trafficking. In preparation for Super Bowl 50, the San Francisco International Airport provided training on human traf- ficking to all of its employees. Delta Airlines signed a code of conduct in 2011 that follows the guidelines set by the End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking Institute, becoming the first U.S. carrier to do so. Over 68,000 Delta employees have completed train- ing on human trafficking and the company has established a company- wide, mandatory reporting policy. In the United Kingdom, aviation operators place an anti-slavery state- ment on their website in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The statement includes an action plan consisting of identifying poten- tial risk areas, training of staff and working with partners across the world to ensure they are also imple- menting the same actions. Currently, U.S. aviation companies are not required to have an anti-trafficking policy, but should consider doing so as a way to spread awareness and minimize human trafficking. Bailey Wong is the Brand Strategist for NATA Compliance Services, manag- ing internal and external communica- tions concerning federal regulation changes, new services and timely reminders on program updates. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from the University of Nevada-Reno and spent a year in Taipei, Taiwan, studying culture and language. As the Communications Specialist for NATA Compliance Services, Claudia Culmone supports the marketing and sales departments with her wealth of knowledge in writing and customer service experience. Claudia holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Utah, and has over 15 years of experience in journalism, con- tent writing and account management. 57
