By Roberto Miranda—
Looking across the river, you wouldn’t think that New York City is a haven for child sex trafficking, but Nina Alvarez’s work proves otherwise. On April 16, 2012, Oscar nominated and Emmy Award winning television journalist, producer, and filmmaker Nina Alvarez took the time to speak to the New Jersey City University campus here at Hepburn Hall (room 202) about her involvement against sex trafficking, while displaying clips from her documentary “Very Young Girls;” a documentary that exposes the unjustness of underage sex trafficking of African American girls all over New York City that results in the girls being treated as criminals by the police.
“Most of these girls came from vulnerable situations,” Says Alvarez, “Pimps look for the most vulnerable people. If you’re 15 or 16, and some 30 year old guy tells you, ‘You are super cute, would you like to go to lunch?’, it’s flattering. I was 16, [and] I probably didn’t have the same risk, but it could’ve been anybody.”
Alvarez’s documentary was a success thanks to her involvement with the Girls Education & Mentoring Services, also known as GEMS. According to the official GEMS website, “GEMS is committed to ending commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking of children by changing individual lives, transforming public perception, and revolutionizing the systems and policies that impact commercially sexually exploited youth.” During her lecture, Alvarez mentioned how GEMS serves about 200 girls in the style of rehabilitation, as well as her experience with GEMS’ clients during the making of her film.
“These girls didn’t trust me, or [know] if I was out to make them look bad, but then I became their friend,” says Alvarez, who also discussed the laws regarding sex trafficking and age. She explained how an underage sex trafficker would be forced into rehabilitation and be treated as a criminal by authorities while receiving little to no moral support by the court system that penalized them.
Feeling that the awareness of sex trafficking isn’t where it should be, Alvarez was quick to describe the relationships between the victims and those that controlled them. She claims that most underage sex trafficking cases go unidentified since the victim’s relationship with their pimp revolves around either love or fear; stating that the girls “fear the safety of their lives” if they were to contact authorities.
Alvarez hopes to reduce the amount of sex trafficking by raising awareness through her lectures and through the exposure of her film thanks to GEMS. When asked what her biggest personal goal towards raising sex trafficking awareness was, Alvarez stated the following: “I’m not optimistic that prostitution is going to end, but if we can refrain how it works and recognize that youth are being exploited; [as we] provide the aid and services of support to the victims; if we can get there, that would be optimal.”
Alvarez was part of the campaign that helped change sex trafficking laws in New York State, but feels that her work is still in progress. “We are starting to see some change, which is [good], but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
For more information on Nina Alvarez and GEMS please visit: http://www.gems-girls.org/
