25th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – The Business Of Human Trafficking: Protecting Children From Global Criminal Networks

Honorable Tanya Gold, Director of Anti-Human Trafficking for the Office of the Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a survivor of domestic trafficking, shared practical strategies for safeguarding children from exploitation. She underscored the significance of age verification on adult websites, noting that states such as Virginia, Louisiana, and Utah have enacted legislation to prevent minors from accessing pornography, which frequently fuels human trafficking. Gold highlighted Virginia’s “Virginia Rules” program, a school curriculum for students from grades 5 through 12 that educates them about drugs, gangs, human trafficking, firearms, laws protecting victims, and the tactics employed by traffickers. She also described the provision of child identification kits, which collect photographs, DNA, and fingerprints to assist law enforcement in locating missing children. These kits are kept private and provided at no cost to families. Her office has developed a downloadable toolkit to train child advocacy centers, detention centers, behavioral health facilities, alternative schools, and children’s hospitals in identifying and responding to human trafficking cases. Gold also emphasized the role of businesses in prevention, establishing the “100% BAT” initiative—Business Alliances Against Trafficking—to train staff in identifying and responding to trafficking.

Gold emphasized that human trafficking is often a root cause of other criminal activities, and addressing it directly reinforces the value of human life. She urged government leaders to prioritize protecting children, listen to survivors, and ensure that policy and history are shaped by those who have endured slavery and trafficking. By placing humanity first, she argued, societies can safeguard not only children but also broader efforts to protect the planet.