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Acting Governor Susan Bysiewicz  signed a bill that we tirelessly promoted for more than six years to make the marriage age in Connecticut 18, no exceptions.

Connecticut is now the ninth U.S. state where we have helped to end child marriage — a stunning victory for the nearly 6.5 million girls who live in those states! Only 41 states to go.

Previously, dangerous legal loopholes allowed parents to enter 16- and 17-year-olds into marriage in Connecticut with no real legal recourse for a minor who was forced to marry. Emancipated 16- and 17-year-olds could also marry. Marriage before age 18 creates a nightmarish legal trap: Even the most mature minor faces overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to resist or escape a forced marriage. Further, marriage before 18 is recognized as a human rights abuse that destroys almost every aspect of an American girl’s life.

Our research​ found that more than 1,250 minors, some as young as 14, were married in Connecticut between 2000 and 2021. Most were girls wed to adult men.

NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Connecticut now joins most of its neighbors in the northeast in eliminating marriage before 18, no exceptions: Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, New York, Massachusetts and Vermont, as well as Minnesota, have all ended child marriage. ​

Learn more here. 

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Esmeralda Seay-Reynolds had just turned 15 years old when she was scouted by Click Model Management in New York. But the agency told the 5-foot-11, 130-pound hopeful that she wasn’t right because she looked “too mature,” code in fashion for a teen girl deemed “too heavy” because she has already developed curves. So she dropped 20 pounds and immediately signed with NEXT, an even bigger agency. Her ascent was swift, with the Pennsylvania native landing in the pages of Vogue and shooting campaigns for top couture brands like Chanel.

But the red flags emerged just as quickly. At 16, she was booked on a shoot with a photographer who had been publicly accused of sexual coercion. That same year, one of her representatives offered her some dangerous advice on how to stay catwalk thin. “I remember my agent saying, ‘Cotton balls are organic, so it’s fine if you just swallow them to make yourself feel full,’” she says. Around that time, Seay-Reynolds was runway ready and made the Fashion Week cut for Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Saint Laurent, Fendi and Marc Jacobs in New York, Paris and Milan. At her first-ever show, the backstage bathroom scene was troubling. “On either side of me were size zero girls puking their guts up,” she recalls. There was also a financial shocker. She says she received just $130 for the six weeks of grueling work. “I don’t know if that is how much I should have made or if my agency just…

Read more here.

LUBBOCK, Texas — The Lubbock Police Department said 26 people were arrested in a human trafficking operation. The charges included both solicitation of prostitution and misdemeanor prostitution.

The Lubbock Police Department’s Special Operations Division, along with Lubbock Fire Rescue, conducted the operation on June 15th and June 16th.

The operation resulted in 17 felony arrests for solicitation of prostitution, seven arrests for misdemeanor prostitution, and one arrest for Possession of a Controlled substance.

One female was contacted and identified as a possible victim of human trafficking and is not listed below.

Read more here.

HORRIFIC.

A Manhattan financier accused of drugging and raping a 14-year-old girl had a young child frequently visiting his apartment, a neighbor has claimed.Michael Olson, 55, allegedly had the girl – who appeared to be just 11 or 12 – walking his dogs from his Battery Park apartment, the neighbor told The New York Post.The alleged attacker was said to be secluded but lived with a woman, while the teen was often spotted ‘always alone in the hallway’, neighbor Rocco Flammia, 44, said.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken released the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) on Thursday, June 15, at 11:00 a.m. ET in the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the U.S. Department of State and was joined by Cindy Dyer, Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

As mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the TIP Report assesses government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking and highlights strategies to address this crime and protect the victims. This year’s report, the 23rd edition, includes narratives for 188 countries and territories, including the United States. The TIP Report introductory material is drafted in consultation with, and includes contributions from, the Department of State’s Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network, which includes subject matter experts with lived experience of trafficking.

Read more here. 

A bipartisan group of senators urged chief executives at ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft to toughen protections against transporting human trafficking victims, in a pair of letters dated Monday.

The push comes after Uber recently launched a new option for teens ages 13-17, allowing them to ride alone for the first time, as well as use the food-delivery service, Uber Eats.

Previously, Uber guidelines prevented children under 18 from riding alone and encouraged drivers to report any suspected underage riders. The restrictions were not foolproof, however, and many teens still used the app.

While Uber’s new teen option aims to equip parents with tools for greater supervision, it still marks a departure from the long-held restrictions on rides for minors.

In separate letters to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and to Lyft CEO David Risher, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) acknowledged the steps both companies have previously taken to combat human trafficking but cited reports that ride-hailing apps have been used for human trafficking.

Read more here. 

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will release the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) on Thursday, June 15, at 11:00 a.m. ET in the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the U.S. Department of State and will be joined by Cindy Dyer, Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

As mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the TIP Report assesses government efforts around the world to combat human trafficking and highlights strategies to address this crime and protect the victims. This year’s report, the 23rd edition, includes narratives for 188 countries and territories, including the United States. The TIP Report introductory material is drafted in consultation with, and includes contributions from, the Department of State’s Human Trafficking Expert Consultant Network, which includes subject matter experts with lived experience of trafficking.

During the ceremony, Secretary Blinken and Ambassador Dyer will honor the 2023 TIP Report Heroes, individuals from diverse stakeholder communities around the world whose tireless efforts have made a lasting impact on the fight against trafficking. Following the ceremony, many of the Heroes will travel to Boston and Miami to engage with their American counterparts through the Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).