January 23, 2024
City Council
DATE: January 23, 2024
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Vice Mayor Jimenez and Councilmember Willis
Subject:
Human Trafficking Prevention Month
FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact related to this item.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
The City of Richmond continues to recognize January as
Human Trafficking Prevention month as in years past.
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
The U.S. Senate designated January 11 as National
Human Trafficking Awareness Day in 2007 and,
beginning in 2010 by Presidential Proclamation, each
January has been designated National Slavery and
Human Trafficking Prevention Month to address this
issue and remember those who have been harmed.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
PROCLAMATION recognizing Human Trafficking
Prevention Month, to honor the thousands of people
harmed each year by this heinous human rights violation - Vice Mayor Claudia Jimenez (510-620-6565) and
Councilmember Melvin Willis (510-412-2050).
DISCUSSION:
The City of Richmond recognizes this annual event as it serves as a reminder of the global struggle of human trafficking in all of its forms. It is an opportunity to honor individuals, families and communities that have been harmed, and a rallying cry to AGENDA
REPORT
January 23, 2024
commit to working toward a day when Human Trafficking is no longer a threat to communities.
Human trafficking, as defined by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, is a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion or when a person induced to perform such an act is not yet 18 years old; or the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.
The San Francisco Bay Area has been identified as one of the highest intensity child exploitation areas in the country. Human trafficking is happening everywhere in our communities and African American and Latinx communities in Richmond are particularly targeted and vulnerable. Populations at disproportionate risk are those affected by early childhood abuse or sexual violence, poverty, and unstable and inconsistent housing, and those systemically marginalized and underserved.
We recommit to ending Human Trafficking in all its forms in the United States and in our beloved city and rededicate ourselves to addressing the issues that make anyone in our community vulnerable to being forced, misled or coerced into situations of trafficking. It is our goal that members of this community are able to live fully and thrive.
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
Attachment 1 - Proclamation