Duluth Tackles Issue Of Human Trafficking
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- A community task force in Duluth has been started to address human trafficking and soon the city council will take up the issue.
Task force coordinator Shunu Shrestha says the frequency of human trafficking is difficult to gauge, but where prostitution is occurring, coercion and trafficking are usually present.
This month 29 people were indicted in a sex trafficking ring in which Somali gangs in Minneapolis and St. Paul allegedly forced girls under age 14 into prostitution.
Councilor Sharla Gardner is working on a resolution that would voice support for the task force, the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault and the American Indian Community Housing Organization.
The Duluth News Tribune reports Gardner also scheduled a committee of the whole meeting Dec. 6 to discuss the issue.
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