Port of Seattle leaders reaffirmed their efforts to fight human trafficking with a new pledge Wednesday.
“We know that King County is a hotspot for the international circuit for human trafficking,” Toshiko Hasegawa, Port of Seattle Commission Vice President, said on Wednesday. “People move through Sea-Tac Airport and maritime facilities across the globe. So the Port of Seattle is actually uniquely positioned to lead on addressing human trafficking and leading on the efforts to combat it. Human trafficking is one of the largest underground economies in the world.”
The new pledge, called Port Allies Against Human Trafficking (PAAHT), is an alliance between port leaders, tenants, major airlines (including Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines), and partners throughout port facilities.
Organizations signing onto the pledge agree to:
- Endorse and amplify port-led public education campaigns on human trafficking at port facilities
- Promote participation in awareness training for staff to recognize typical trafficking signs and behaviors
- Educate staff on how to report signs and behaviors via the National Human Trafficking Hotline
“We urge all interested organizations and Port of Seattle partners to join us,” said Sam Cho, Port of Seattle Commission President. “Take the pledge today, so that your employees can add to our eyes and our ears to report suspected human trafficking behavior.”
On Tuesday, the Port of Seattle Commission approved a proclamation to recognize January as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
On Wednesday, Cho also announced the port is a recipient of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2022 Human Trafficking in Transportation Impact Award. The port will receive $50,000 of funding for Sea-Tac Airport to work “with other U.S. airports to develop a common educational program to raise awareness for how to spot and stop human trafficking,” Cho said on Wednesday.
Sea-Tac Airport currently has 310 anti-trafficking signs posted in restrooms and passenger loading bridges. There are also 30 at Port of Seattle parks and at Fisherman’s Terminal.
“Raising awareness of how to recognize and report suspected trafficking works. A call to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in late 2021 resulted in the arrest of a 23-year-old Seattle man in February 2022 at Sea-Tac Airport,” Hasegawa said. “When he arrived, (he believed) he was there to pick up a 17-year-old minor. But he had been communicating with an undercover law enforcement agent instead. Just last month, that man was sentenced 10 years in prison for attempted sex-trafficking of a minor. That conviction came because someone recognized the signs of the behavior, and made a phone call.”
If you believe you may have information about a trafficking situation, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text at 233733.
If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911.
©2023 Cox Media Group
