Faith groups, nonprofits address human trafficking in southern Colorado

Colorado has some of the most lenient human trafficking laws in the nation, but that hasn’t stopped nonprofits and church groups from stepping up to try to stop the crime and find help for victims.

On Friday and Saturday people from southern Colorado and around the country gathered in Colorado Springs for the Justice Conference. The aim: finding the best way for organizations to work together to combat trafficking.

“One of the things I noticed here in Colorado Springs is there’s a lot of awareness and a lot of people are beginning to hear about it or talk about it, but there’s not really a lot of action,” said Justice Conference organizer Lawrence Wagner.

Wagner said one idea is to contact those most at risk, runaways for example, and provide support.

Human trafficking often looks like prostitution, but the difference is victims are being coerced and manipulated to sell themselves.

“My sister was trafficked out of Colorado Springs when she was 15,” said Audrey Terry, with the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado.

Terry’s sister, Corey Leigh Shipman, was part of a prostitution ring that spanned the U.S.

“She had been addicted to drugs, raped, beaten and, again, at the age of 15, she was recruited by her boyfriend,” said Terry.

Terry lost her sister to suicide in 2000, and she’s since devoted her life to helping combat human trafficking and working with victims in southern Colorado.

“We do stranger danger when they’re young, but we don’t do friend danger when they’re older,” said Terry. “Because they’re approaching (victims) as friends.”

In the U.S., 300,000 children have the potential to be trafficked every year according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Internet has made trafficking easier than ever. It’s a worldwide problem with plenty of financial incentives.

“Thirty-two billion dollars a year is the money being made in the business of enslaving human beings,” said Seth Whispelwey with the International Justice Mission.

The public is invited to the Justice Conference on Saturday. It’s from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m at the Every Home for Christ Church, 640 Chapel Hills Drive in Colorado Springs. The cost is $30.

For more information on human trafficking, contact the Human Trafficking Task Force of Southern Colorado.