Statewide project aims to prevent human trafficking across NC

Central North Carolina had two Amber Alerts issued for
15-year-old girls: One in Harnett County and the other in Siler City.

Both girls were found safe, but resulted in human trafficking
charges for the men allegedly involved.

Between July 2023 – July 2024, the North Carolina Department
of Administration helped 767 human trafficking survivors in the state.

Since 2007 throughout the country, the U.S. Customs and
Border Protection reported 2,503 human trafficking cases and 7,002 victims

On Friday, WRAL News spoke with Dean Duncan, the principal investigator
for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Project No Rest.

Project No Rest is
a statewide project to increase awareness and prevention around human
trafficking and how it affects our children and young people in North Carolina.

Duncan explained what human trafficking looks like.

“What they’re going through is they’re experiencing a great
deal of trauma, and they’re doing something that ordinarily they wouldn’t do,
but they’ve been motivated by the person who is exploiting them,” Duncan said.

Duncan said the person who is committing a crime or exploiting
someone else is usually doing it for money. He said authorities categorize
trafficking between sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

In 2023, the National Human Trafficking Hotline ranked North
Carolina eighth in the nation in the number of calls to its hotline. Duncan
said North Carolina ranked 10th in the nation in the number of cases
or instances of human trafficking because of those calls.

Duncan is also a research professor at UNC’s School of
Social Work. He recommended parents keep communication open with their children
to keep them safe.

National Human Trafficking Hotline

The National Human Trafficking hotline is
available 24/7 by calling 1-888-373-7888.

People can also text 233733 or use the organization’s chat