Template revised April 12, 2018.

COMMISSION

AGENDA MEMORANDUM

Item No.

7a

BRIEFING ITEM

Date of Meeting

January 28, 2020

DATE: January 17, 2020

TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director

On January 9, 2018, the Port of Seattle Commission passed a motion directing staff to finalize

and implement a Port-wide strategy to combat human trafficking. By taking that step, the

Commission increased our organization’s leadership role on this important topic, for which we

not only have a moral obligation to protect residents and visitors but also a tangible role

because of our status as both a large employer and as the manager of significant trade and

travel facilities.

January is National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and so it is appropriate to use the

January 28, 2020 Commission meeting to both update Commissioners on our progress and

successes, as well as use the public meeting as another platform to raise public awareness.

In 2020, staff is pleased to implement a new employee training on this topic, developed in

partnership with Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking. This is an important opportunity to

ensure that our own staff – and potentially others who work at Port facilities – have the

knowledge and resources to respond to instances of human trafficking.

DETAILS

The Port’s human trafficking strategy has four main focus areas:

1) Training – Ensuring that all employees have access to the proper training and education

to understand both what human trafficking is and its impacts on our communities.

2) Communications – Using port facilities and communications channels to raise public

Template revised September 22, 2016.

Template revised September 22, 2016.

3) Policies and Protocols – Ensuring that Port policies prohibit engagement in human

trafficking, and provide clear procedures for employees to follow to report suspicion of

human trafficking and violations of these policies.

4) Partnerships – Leveraging relationships to reduce duplication and to maximize the

impact of our efforts, including collaborating with nonprofits; local, state and federal

agencies; and key customers and vendors.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND

Although slavery is commonly thought to be a thing of the past, each year millions of men,

Here in Washington state, we are not immune from the problem. Washington had the 12th

highest call volume to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2017. In King County, an

estimated 300-500 children are prostituted annually, some are as young as 11 years old; there

are over 100 websites for soliciting sex in the Seattle area, many of which are used for human

trafficking purposes.

As both the operator of an airport and an owner of a wide array of maritime facilities, we can

help reduce the probability that our properties will be used as a transit point for traffickers and

their victims. As a major employer, we can save lives by educating our staff on the damaging

effect that exploitation and trafficking have on individual lives and families, and how it

(2) Human Trafficking Motion 2018-01

(3) Port Human Trafficking Strategy executive summary

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