“Never stop shouting, that’s what we have to do. This [human trafficking] is a global humanitarian crisis of the modern day,” Joe Sweeney told me. Sweeney, founder of The Asservo Project to fight child trafficking, explained how parents, citizens, and politicians can fight the growing crisis of child trafficking and exploitation in exclusive comments to PJ Media.
The Asservo Project works to help save trafficked children and young adults and to raise awareness about the increasing exploitation of children. Sweeney came into the mission during his time working for the U.S. government. I previously covered Sweeney’s description of how social media facilitates child predation.
Related: Exclusive: Child Trafficking Rescuer Highlights Horrors of Online Sexual Exploitation
According to Sweeney, many individuals working in federal law enforcement tell him they don’t have enough resources to keep abreast of the trafficking crisis, which has increased exponentially with the advent of the internet.
Regarding recent criticism from leftist media that the trafficking problem highlighted by the film “Sound of Freedom” is an exaggerated right-wing conspiracy, Sweeney said he doesn’t know their motive but “We’re busy, and we’re a small organization…there is no shortage of predators. He said that “for them not to report it is certainly not helping” the problem, but rather “contributing” to it. The media needs to stop downplaying the crisis.
I asked Sweeney what advice he has for parents and/or citizens to fight this epidemic of child trafficking. “Parents, they’re going to have to get involved with their kids,” Sweeney replied, emphasizing that it’s not enough just to confiscate phones when kids are caught viewing inappropriate content. “You have to be involved in what they’re doing with these devices, you have to educate them. Have the conversation with them.”
It’s sad that young children have to be made aware of the existence of sexual predation, but the alternative is far worse. “There’s kids as young as nine, ten years old that are targeted quite frequently, [and] the average age for a child is around fourteen years old,” Sweeney told me. Parents must both understand and monitor their children’s use of technology, including through software and personal supervision. “I tell [parents], if you let your child take that phone to bed, you have just opened the entire world to them, good and bad,” Sweeney added. Nighttime is “typically when [predators] hunt,” he explained. He also noted that The Asservo Project can provide more resources both to parents and schools upon request to combat child exploitation.
But it’s not just parents who should fight this horror. Sweeney advised any concerned citizen, “Get involved with an organization. Volunteer. Donate.” Rescuing children and educating them is expensive, he explained, especially for organizations (including his) that do global work. This is not a job simply for a few experts, but one which demands help from all adults, everyone who wants to protect our precious children.
Sweeney had advice for the political sphere, too. He noted that in Pennsylvania, where Asservo is headquartered, there is a bipartisan effort among state senators to fight child exploitation through legislation “to hold the predators accountable.” For “sentencing guidelines, and it varies state to state, you have to reach out to your state representatives and your federal [representatives], congressmen and senators alike. Write them, contact them, [because] legislation needs to be changed where these people are held accountable.”
Predators are often released far too quickly, only to be repeat offenders, Sweeney emphasized. He told the story of one predator who molested a fifteen-year-old and was sentenced to “eight to ten years” of prison. But “he was out on probation in less than, I think it was, ten months,” Sweeney said. “And we caught him trying to re-offend.” Sweeney remarked, “That’s not acceptable, and any politician or elected leader that people have in their districts, you need to come up and face them and ask them these questions: why? There’s no reason that [molester] should have been out on probation.”
Citizens “need to get involved, [and] it’s hard work. I know it’s difficult to set up meetings and meet with” politicians, he advised. “But I tell people, if you don’t take the time now, the call you might be making is to us to help find your child.” And that’s a horrifying prospect, one no parent should ever have to face. Just the thought of how children are abused should inspire us to action.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving changed laws and ultimately society by being persistently loud, Sweeney said; why isn’t the same movement taking place to protect children from sexual predators and traffickers? “Never stop shouting, that’s what we have to do,” Sweeney insisted. “This [human trafficking] is a global humanitarian crisis of modern-day…currently it’s over 50 million people …that are believed sold into slavery globally, boasting a $150 billion enterprise.”
From the 85,000 children who went missing in the Biden border crisis so far, to online predation and beyond, child trafficking is a catastrophe crying out for justice. Public-private partnerships are needed, and politicians have to be galvanized to legislative action by their constituents, Sweeney urged. Otherwise, the epidemic of exploitation will only get worse.
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