Jen Brodal/MDN Hannah Hamilton is wearing the A21 Walk For Freedom T-shirt. The walk, done to raise awareness for millions of human trafficking victims, will be held in Oak Park on Saturday.

Hannah Hamilton, event coordinator for The Barn at 52 Pines, has become the Minot area host for the A21 Walk For Freedom planned for Saturday at 1 p.m. in Minot’s Oak Park. Registration will be before 1 p.m. at the event and online at A21.org/walk.

Hamilton has been interested in getting involved with A21 since listening to the inspirational podcast of A21 creator Christine Caine. She said Caines’s creation of the A21 campaign has a goal to abolish sex trafficking in the 21st century.

Hamilton said the walk is not a fundraiser and her goal is to spread awareness and plug into the community. She said A21 Walk For Freedom came about in 2014, but this will be the first walk in Minot.

Hamilton said North Dakota, on the local level, has agencies like the 31:8 Project and North Dakota Human Trafficking Task Force who work closely together “to speak up for those why cannot speak for themselves.”

Illegal human trafficking is an estimated $150 billion dollar industry and 40 million people, youth to adults, are entrapped in modern day slavery. Some indicators for victims of human trafficking are disconnection from loved ones and institutions like school. Changes in behavior, a person appearing to be groomed, coached or accompanied by someone controlling. A person who appears to lack personal belongings and stability and acts fearful and submissive, according to 31:8 Project information.

Hamilton said “a child being snatched off the street by a creeper in a van is not the only stereotypical scenario of human trafficking.” She said these groomers or kidnappers are most often very well thought out, organized and master manipulators. Hamilton said in many cases the perpetrator will take the time to coax and manipulate the victim so that at the time of meeting, it is consensual to get in the trafficking vehicle.

Hamilton said one of the biggest misconceptions is trafficking occurs in under sourced neighborhoods in poor communities. She said it has an online presence and anyone not paying attention who’s vulnerable and can easily be trapped.

Ninety percent of human trafficking is sex trafficking that can stem from a parent or guardian trading their child for sex to obtain drugs and alcohol. Survival sex is exchanging food, goods and shelter for sexual labor and exploiting victims for their basic needs, according to the North Dakota Human Trafficking Task Force.

Hamilton said, the worst-case scenario is being taken out of state. She said unfortunately these traffickers’ prey on the most basic human needs of connection and many times easily manipulate young kids and teenagers online.

Hamilton said labor trafficking is another form of human trafficking wherein a person is forced to work long hours and participate in work for basic needed documentation from another country, medical treatment, food and shelter.

Two percent of human trafficking is sex and labor trafficking according the North Dakota Human Trafficking Task Force.

She said she is specifically learning that most are aware it exists in this state and communities, but it becomes an out-of-sight, out-of-mind issue.

The A21 walk is a global event and happens on Oct. 15 wherever there is awareness of it.

Hamilton said the dress code is black and the walk is single file in silence, as a show of solidarity as one for the one that is still out there.

For more information on human trafficking and how to help visit www.318project.org or www.ndhttf.org/north-dakota-overview.