2012 Norma Hotaling Award Recipients

2012 Survivor Centered-Service Provider

Tina Frundt, Founder & Executive Director, Courtney’s House

Tina Frundt, Founder and Executive Director,Courtneys House

“Accepting this award means a lot to me as a survivor of child sex trafficking, many survivors fight on the ground each day and help change so many lives for there to be an award that exist because of another survivors strong voice and struggle, I am truly humbled and honored that so many see what this movement really means to me! Not only do I thank you, but the many survivors I help and will continue to help appreciate this as well.”

Tina Frundt is a leading figure in the crusade to help children sexually exploited for commercial purposes. Ms. Frundt is a survivor of domestic sex trafficking who now dedicates her life to helping women and children heal from domestic sex trafficking and commercial sex exploitation. After realizing there was no specialized housing available for sex trafficked children in Washington, D.C., Ms. Frundt founded Courtneys House in August 2008. Since its inception, Courtneys House and Ms. Frundt have helped over 500 victims escape from being trafficked. Ms. Frundt has testified before Congress about her own experiences and also trains law enforcement and other non-profit groups to rescue and provide resources to victims.

2012 Innovative Demand Reduction Award

From left to right: Kendis Paris, Lyn Thompson, and Kylla Leeburg, Co-Founders, TAT

Leeburg, Kendis Paris and Lyn Thompson, Co-founders,Truckers against Trafficking

Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) is a non-profit organization that exists to empower and mobilize members of the trucking and travel plaza industry to combat domestic sex trafficking by providing educational training resources to prevent modern slavery to travel plaza employees, all students of private and public truck-driving schools, and all truck drivers employed via major carriers and owners/operators. TAT also partners with law enforcement to facilitate the investigation of human trafficking and modern slavery.

“Its impossible to adequately convey the honor we feel or our appreciation to be counted among those associated with Norma Hotaling and her anti-trafficking work by being named recipients of the 2012 Norma Hotaling Anti-Trafficking Award in the area of Innovative Demand Reduction. It is a privilege to carry on her legacy in working to stop the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children.

In the almost four years weve been working with the trucking industry to educate them as to the problem of human trafficking, equip them with tools to fight it once theyve recognized it taking place around them, empower them with actions to take and then mobilize them to work together and with law enforcement to produce the greatest efficacy, we have been blessed at their reception of the information and the alacrity with which they have begun to take a stand and take up the fight.

Here are two of the most recent examples, provided to us by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center:

A trucker identified an adult female victim of sex trafficking when she approached his truck to solicit for sexual services. The female informed the trucker that she had a pimp and that she wished to leave her situation. The caller obtained the female’s permission to transport her away from the truck stop and help her access services. The trucker contacted the NHTRC while the female was in his vehicleand notified the NHTRC that he could transport her to another truck stop away from her pimp. The NHTRC connected with one of our local emergency service provider partners who made arrangements to pick up the female from the truck stop and transport her to their shelter for services. The female called the NHTRC a few days later and expressed that she wanted to relocate to another state. The NHTRC connected her with an anti-trafficking provider in the state where she wished to relocate and she called back later that week to update the NHTRC that she had safely moved and was receiving services.

A male trucker was sitting in his truck when he was approached by a female no older than 14 years old, who was offering sexual services. Earlier, the caller had observed the minor walking from truck to truck with a male in his 20s. The minor spoke to the caller alone and told him that she was from another state and wanted to return home. The caller offered to help her but her male counterpart arrived at the truck and she became silent. The caller observed the male take the female to the shower area and reported the incident to truck stop management. The caller was directed by the management to call the NHTRC. The NHTRC took down the reporting details and advised the caller to call 911 for immediate assistance and to call the NHTRC back to help coordinate additional services and a report to our specialized law enforcement for investigation. Shortly after the call, 5 police cars were dispatched to the location and several males were arrested. The police notified the trucker that the minor was a runaway from another state and that the male had outstanding warrants and was arrested for kidnapping and other charges.

Once people understand what human trafficking is, how to recognize it and what to do about it, they are generally appalled by the egregiousness of the crime and quick to act against it. Were delighted to play an active role in that process and want to continue helping members of the trucking industry become leaders in the abolitionist movement, both individually and corporately, and within the transportation industry as a whole.

Thank you again, so much, for the consideration of the Selection Committee and for this remarkable and humbling award!”

2012 Josephine Butler Abolitionist Award for Policy Development

Kathryn Xian, Founder & Director, Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery

Kathryn Xian, Founder and Director,Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery

“I am incredibly honored to receive this award commemorating two amazing women and abolitionists: Norma Hotaling and Josephine Butler. They were ordinary women faced with extraordinary circumstances, and they chose to make a difference in the world so that others would not suffer. They did so without motive for acknowledgement or selfish gain. This type of legacy is carried on in my generation of abolitionists worldwide who fight a strong tide of deep-rooted oppression on many levels– some directly aiding victims, some changing policy, and some focusing on changing the hearts and minds of men and boys of a patriarchal system. I thank not only my fellow abolitionists of the past and present who set the tone for future generations of freedom fighters to never give up, but I also thank Global Centurion for this public acknowledgement reminding us, when we tire from this global struggle, that we are not alone in our endeavors of serving a greater purpose in the eyes of God. And as a human family, we can continue to teach our brothers and sisters, of this and future generations, that we are all equal and slavery has no place under any circumstances.”

The Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery (PASS), is a Hawaii-based not-for-profit whose mission is to stop Human-Trafficking in Hawaii and the Pacific. PASS provides services and advocacy for survivors of Human-Trafficking, education and training on the identification of victims of Human-Trafficking, and public awareness and prevention education for the greater community. Under the leadership of Ms. Xian, PASS has also strived to build alliances with public interest legal services, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), churches, non-profit community organizations, domestic violence shelters, educational institutions, and law enforcement to advocate for effective policy to combat human trafficking and protect victims of modern slavery. Over the past few years, PASS has been involved in the following key policy developments:

• 2004 – Helped to pass Act 82, making Hawaii the first state to outlaw sex-tourism.
• 2008 – Revised the prostitution laws to change the age defining a minor from under 16 years old to under 18-years-old.
• 2011 – Introduced and passed Hawaii’s first labor trafficking law and reformed the promoting prostitution laws to focus on penalizing pimps by adding “fraud” as an option to the elements to prove the crime, raising the penalty to a class A offense (up to 20 years in prison) if using force, fraud, intimidation, or threat; or pimping children under 18; and raising the penalty for any abettor to a class B felony (up to 10 years in prison).
• 2012 – Introduced and passed Hawaii’s first vacating convictions law, making it possible for survivors of sex-trafficking to file motions to vacate convictions of prostitution from their records if they were held in servitude at the time of the conviction. At this time Hawaii became 1 of 6 states to do so.
• OVERALL – PASS’ leadership was key to reducing Hawaii’s ranking in the Polaris Project’s state rankings map from a Tier 3 (in 2010) to a Tier 1 state in 2012.