#sex trafficking hawaii

US Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) has invited Kalei Grant, a Native Hawaiian trafficking survivor leader who now advocates for other survivors of sex trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence, to be her guest for President Biden’s State of the Union Address.

Locally, FBI agents identified and located seven adolescent victims during this operation that ran on Aug. 12, 2022.

The Senate Government Operations Committee introduced a short form bill (SB 2930 SD1) that aims to establish two new divisions within the Department of the Attorney General to address fraud, white collar crime, political corruption and sex and human trafficking. The measure would appropriate $834,000 for the operations of the Special Investigation and Prosecution unit and $754,000 to operate the Sex and Human Trafficking unit.

The tracking system is designed to allow survivors of sexual assault to obtain up-to-date information on the status of their sexual assault evidence collection kits, from collection through testing, and to do so in an anonymous way. Survivors who have their kit bar code numbers may now go online to see the status of their kit. The use of bar codes began in January 2020.

Childhood abuse, as well as serious family and community problems, identified as key factors of sex trafficking.

According to Hoʻōla Nā Pua, sex traffickers often take advantage of the privacy and anonymity accessible through the hospitality industry. Many of the victims are young Hawaiʻi residents.

Hoola Na Pua, a nonprofit working to combat sex trafficking in Hawaiʻi, will be hosting a free symposium on Maui next month.