A Minnesota taskforce has released the results of a six-month project that gathered critical first-hand information about sex trafficking survivors and their needs, called “Voices of Safe Harbor: Survivor & Youth Input for Minnesota’s Model Protocol on Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Youth.” To compile this report, taskforce facilitators conducted a series of focus group interviews and individual surveys with sex trafficking survivors, as well as with persons who work closely with sexually exploited youth. The goal of the project is “to inform a coordinated response to victims and survivors under Minnesota’s Safe Harbor Law, . . . to support survivors, and to prevent future sexual exploitation.” Many of the project’s participants emphasized the need for sexual health education that models healthy relationships; positive support and “empathy” from family, friends, law enforcement and social services; and sensitivity to racial, cultural, sexual, and gender identities.
The project was commissioned by Hennepin County’s “No Wrong Door” program and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. It was managed by the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
For more information on Minnesota’s Safe Harbor Law, please visit the Safe Harbor Initiative section of the Advocates for Human Rights website.
Compiled from: News: Report gives a voice to survivors of youth sexual exploitation, Hennepin County (January 25, 2016).