Human Trafficking Should Be Everyone’s Concern

This article was commissioned by Intercessors for America.

On a recent Praying With America's Leaders broadcast, IFA's Kris Kubal sat down for a sobering discussion with Noel Thomas. Noel is the Co-founder of Zero Trafficking, an organization that develops and utilizes machine-learning augmented analysis to bring military-grade intelligence to the fight against human trafficking.

Kris opens the interview referencing Sound of Freedom, the 2023 movie about child sex trafficking. Based on a true story, this movie provides a jolting glimpse into the hellscape of horror that is the dark underworld of human trafficking. The film leaves an indelible gash on the human soul, causing many to cry out, "What can I do?" Noel Thomas has personally answered that call and trains others to do the same.

Noel's soon-to-be-released book, Dark Traffic: The Dangerous Intersection of Technology, Crime, Money, Sex, and Humanity, informs readers how they can help identify and stop trafficking that occurs close to home in their own neighborhoods.  

Noel opens with a startling statistic: Approximately 50 million people around the world are being exploited in human trafficking right now. This 150 billion dollar industry has evolved into a complex network of organized crime trafficking sex, labor, and human organs. The demonic enterprise of human trafficking has changed, and Dark Traffic will change all of our perceptions of trafficking. 

What Is Human Trafficking?  

Human trafficking is defined as criminal activity in which people are recruited, harbored, transported, bought, or kidnapped to serve an exploitive purpose, such as sexual slavery, forced labor, child soldiery, or harvesting human organs. In the interview, Noel describes the first time he witnessed sex trafficking. While in India on a mission trip, he was handed a flyer inviting men to have sex with a 14-year-old girl. He learned the girl was being trafficked from the second floor of the local police station.

That experience changed the trajectory of his life forever.  

Trafficking in the third world looks very different from the first world. In the third world, trafficking happens out in the open, particularly in tourist areas. I work with an organization that rescues bar girls in Angeles City, Philippines. The main strip is an endless array of bars only about a mile long. In that one strip of bars, it is estimated that 20,000 girls are being exploited while the local police are paid off and sit idly by.  

In the Western first world, the nefarious syndicate is just as pernicious but more carefully hidden. "Everyone thinks that it's on the coasts or at the border. But it's happening in rural areas, affluent areas, small towns, and retirement communities." Noel continued to explain that there is most likely some form of trafficking, "oftentimes a half mile or mile from your house."

Noel went on to say, "I was surprised to learn there are over 27,000 illicit massage establishments here in the U.S. Many of the women working in these establishments are tricked, thinking they were coming to work as nail technicians and one day get a student visa. But once they arrive, unable to speak the language, they are exploited. They lose control of their passports and don't have freedom of movement. Fraud and coercion are used to ensnare the individual, which is the basic definition of human trafficking."

Noel describes the sophisticated networks of systems and businesses required to support this notorious netherworld. The web to sustain human trafficking spans across 30 industries, including transportation, finance, hospitality, social media, dating apps, cryptocurrency, and online gaming, to name a few.  

"We know the internet is the most dangerous place for our kids."  

He urges parents to be vigilant to protect their children from adult predators who pose as children online. Gaming apps like Roblox and Minecraft are high-risk arena's because the approachers are shockingly brazen in the way they lure children into a trusting relationship online.

One of the most shocking moments of the interview is when Noel describes the economics of trafficking. "Human trafficking is unique when compared to other illicit trade. Unlike trafficking weapons or drugs, which can only be sold once, a victim of trafficking can be sold up to 20 times per day. So organized crime, terrorist organizations, and cartels have discovered human trafficking is extremely lucrative and is used to fund other illegal operations."

What Can We Do?

First, we must choose the uncomfortable path and become more aware of the plight of the trafficked. "Remember those in prison as though you were in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated as if you too felt their torment." (Hebrews 13:3)

Second, we must pray. "Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the helpless." (Psalms 10:12). In my work in the Philippines, through the power of prayer; we are watching revival break out in the sex trade. Not only are the precious daughters of the King being rescued, healed, restored, and educated, but the power of God is transforming the city. Men on the strip are repenting of their sins, bar owners have welcomed us to have worship and bible study for the girls on Sunday mornings, and bar workers are getting baptized and delivered from demons.  

Third, please visit Noel's website and purchase his new book so you can learn how to join the movement actively dismantling criminal networks. Situational awareness is one area in which we all need to grow.

As Noel and Kris ended the interview, he said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We've got such an opportunity as the body of Christ, our collective churches, and places of worship to come together and agree to be unifiers in a fragmented nation around this issue. As a country and as a society, we should take this issue seriously and give a voice to the voiceless of human trafficking." 

"The wicked sit in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places, he kills the innocent; his eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws them into his net. He crouches and bows down, and the unfortunate fail by his mighty ones. He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; He has hidden His face. He will never see it.’

But we pray, Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the afflicted! Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer. Seek out his wickedness until You find no more." (Excerpted from Psalm 10:8-15)