Summit Focuses On Sex Slavery In Michigan

LANSING (WWJ) - Worldwide and right here in Michigan, people, mostly women, are being exploited as sex slaves. That's according to police and prosecutors from across the state who gathered in Lansing on Wednesday to better learn how to recognize and fight the issue of human trafficking.

Attorney General Bill Schuette, who organized this week's educational summit, said there are an estimated  2.5 million such victims all over the globe.

"How would you respond were this your daughter, or your niece, or your neighbor or someone in your community you knew? That's the mindset that we need to occupy as we work together to stop human trafficking in Michigan," Schuette said in an interview with WWJ Newsradio 950.

Schuette said that although sexual slavery accounts for the vast majority of those being trafficked, people in other service industries, including maid services, are also being victimized.

Schuette said many in Michigan may not even realize this is happening. He said that has to change.

"Forty years ago people didn't talk enough about domestic violence," said Schuette "And right now people don't talk enough about or are aware enough about human trafficking.

"So, that parallel is a good challenge for us to make it every evident among the law enforcement community. And, here in our state, we're going  work very hard to stamp it out," he said.

Schuette  last summer established a task force to combat human trafficking in Michigan.

Learn more about human trafficking in our state at this link.