KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics in Kansas, Missouri and at the local level. Share your story idea with Charlie.
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Billboards and apps will encourage people to prevent human trafficking during the World Cup, which takes place in 16 cities across North America, including Kansas City.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced a partnership Monday with the group It’s a Penalty and the Simply Report mobile app.
“Unfortunately, way too much human trafficking happens in plain sight,” Hanaway explained at a press event in Lee’s Summit Monday.
She predicted that the World Cup would lead to a lot of trafficking because people with money would be away from their homes for long periods of time.
She said the Super Bowl is also a hot spot for human trafficking.
It’s a Penalty uses sports to raise awareness about human trafficking. It will use different advertising methods to encourage you to report suspicious behavior.
“Human trafficking thrives on silence, and thrives when people don’t recognize the signs or don’t know what to do if they think something is wrong,” Philippa King, deputy CEO of It’s a Penalty, explained.
The Simply Report app offers an easy way for anyone to report suspected human trafficking. The free app connects directly with the attorney general’s office, which can coordinate investigations.
Examples of suspicious behavior include someone controlling a younger person, a person showing signs of fear, an adult who doesn’t have any identification, signs of physical abuse, and lots of people coming and going from a hotel room.
Separately, the group Rights4Girls launched a series of digital billboard messages in the Kansas City area using soccer-themed messages like “blow the whistle on sex buying” to discourage people from engaging in human trafficking.
“It’s crucial for people to realize that in the shadows of all the celebration, there can be a dark underbelly of trafficking and exploitation. Far too often, society focuses on the traffickers or victims, but rarely takes into account the third party in the transaction, which is the sex buyer. So, we are turning the global glare of the World Cup into a spotlight on those driving this harmful industry,” said Executive Director of Rights4Girls Yasmin Vafa in a statement.
The Missouri Attorney General’s office has several human trafficking resources available on its website.
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