Today we’d like to introduce you to Shima Rostami
Hi Shima, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am Shima Rostami, Executive Director of Gateway alliance against human trafficking; a nonprofit organization that educates communities and inspires for positive systemic changes to end human trafficking. We serve the greater St. Louis Community and work in the State of Missouri. We are committed to protecting vulnerable children in our community from human trafficking and exploitation. Human trafficking is a growing problem in St. Louis area as well as its neighboring communities. Last year alone, 42% of victims were children in Missouri. As you can imagine, identifying these victims is often challenging since some of our most vulnerable community members, children, are unable to speak for themselves and seek help. So, it is crucial to ensure those adults surrounding these vulnerable children as well as children themselves are trained to recognize the signs of human trafficking and how to report it.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In response to your question, I would like to divide key challenges in maintaining momentum into two different categories; societal and personal challenges.
To touch on the societal challenges, I need to mention that just about two decades ago, the U.S. Congress passed the only anti-human trafficking federal law, “the Victim Protection Act of 2000.” Shortly thereafter, the State of Missouri began establishing various laws and policies to fight against human trafficking; this means there are still many unknown areas in the field. In other words, human trafficking is a new phenomenon to almost every system that you can imagine including healthcare, criminal justice, education, finance, computer science, and economics. This mysterious nature of the ‘human trafficking’ field in our contemporary time has created lots of uncertainty regarding the proper response to this criminal activity.
More importantly, there is a culture of lack of proper knowledge and awareness among our community members about human trafficking identification, the reporting procedures, and responding to trafficking incidents. Consequently, when a community does not have enough or the right kind of information about any given problem, the members of this community are not able to solve the issue or inquire proper responses to address the problem. Unfortunately, our community heavily relied on media and social media as a source of their information and sadly when it comes to human trafficking, the media and social media have played a significant role in misguiding the general public about human trafficking, what to look for, and how to report it.
In addition to these societal issues, there have been personal challenges that I needed to overcome to remain motivated to continue being an advocate in this field in St. Louis, MO. I am a first generation of immigrants who came to the U.S. in 2013 as an international scholar. I am also a female Muslim from Iran. All of these so-called personal categories combined with the current on-going political situations in Middle East, where I am originally from, including various continued conflicts, have created more obstacles that I have had to face and overcome to move forward. Consequently, these types of unique personal challenges often have affected on how the member of the local community may see me or even judge me resulted in positive or negative mixed feelings and behaviors towards me and what I have to offer as a professional and scholar. As a result, occasionally, I may face a type of discriminatory behavior from some members of the community who also lack the proper knowledge about human trafficking which has affected my professional work and personal life. Sometimes, because of who I am, my name may get crossed out of some guest or meeting lists, our grant application may be denied, or sadly our organization may not get the recognition it should receive as such acknowledgment requires to acknowledge the executive director of the agency who is me.
Accordingly, to overcome these challenges, in both organizational and individual levels, I learned how to develop the culture of resilience in my approach as a leader to provide anti-human trafficking services to the community. When proper, I always tell our staff, board members, and volunteers to always remember to leave their personal feelings, emotions, and beliefs behind the door and serve without expectation. I also remind them that we are not here to judge anyone; we are here to serve and there is one thing we do not do; we never give up! We may slow down to evaluate our situations or take one step at a time, but giving up has never been an option in our line of duty. That is because so many vulnerable members of our community including our vulnerable children rely on us to protect them from trafficking and exploitation.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I currently serve as the Executive Director of Gateway Alliance Against Human Trafficking (GAHT) which was established as a nonprofit organization in 2014 with the mission of educating communities and inspiring positive systemic change to end human trafficking.
Since its establishment, GAHT has educated an estimated 500,000 people through in-person and developing online/video production. To have a better idea to visualize this population we have educated, I should add that it is almost two times the population of the City of St. Louis. We are proud to announce a milestone as in November 2024, we celebrated ten years of dedicated effort toward the fight against human trafficking.
Human trafficking is a critical issue that often goes unnoticed in our community. According to the FBI , St. Louis is ranked as one of the top 20 areas for human trafficking in the United States. Poised at the intersection of major federal interstates with access to large cities (Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis), Missouri is considered a hub and top destination for human traffickers. Last year alone, 249 cases were identified in Missouri, affecting 356 victims while almost 1 in 2 victims were children (almost 42%). GAHT is committed to protecting vulnerable children in our community from human trafficking and exploitation. As you can imagine, identifying these victims is often challenging since some of our most vulnerable community members, children and infants, are unable to speak for themselves and seek help. Thus, it is crucial to ensure that adults surrounding these vulnerable children as well as children themselves are trained to recognize the signs of human trafficking.
GAHT was founded in 2014 in response to the growing hidden crime of human trafficking in our region. Our work centers on minimizing victimization of vulnerable people and empowering communities through education, showing them how to identify and report human trafficking. Human traffickers’ prey on people who lack employment, have unstable living environments, or have a history of sexual or physical abuse, among other vulnerabilities. Runaway and unhoused youth face an increased risk when traffickers promise high paying jobs, loving relationships, or new opportunities. In some cases, traffickers kidnap victims or use physical or psychological violence to control them. GAHT is dedicated to providing education that helps reduce the prevalence of human trafficking and supports victims. Through our Breaking the Chains of Human Trafficking program (BCHT), we offer courses, training, and presentations for students and adults that empower people to recognize and report incidences of human trafficking.
Just over two decades ago, the U.S. Congress passed the only anti-human trafficking federal law, “the Victim Protection Act of 2000.” Shortly thereafter (between 2005 – 2008), the State of Missouri began establishing various laws, policies, and projects to fight against human trafficking. In response to these efforts, GAHT was established in 2014 to support the emerging needs of the Greater St. Louis community and fight against human trafficking through education and networking services. Sadly, many victims of human trafficking are often hidden in plain sight, with their exploitation going undetected by friends, family, or peers in their respective communities. Many community members, service providers, teachers, and professionals working with vulnerable populations and children are not trained to identify human trafficking. For example, studies suggest that up to 88% of trafficked persons accessed one or more healthcare providers while they were being trafficked. However, less than 5% of emergency department personnel have received formal education to be able to identify trafficked individuals. This gap in education presents an opportunity for emergency providers to receive formal training to better recognize and assist persons experiencing trafficking and dispel common myths surrounding trafficking.
Through training and education, the GAHT programs have helped people throughout the community to identify and report more potential cases of human trafficking, preventing further exploitation of victims – especially children – and saving lives. I am honored to lead the efforts of everyone in GAHT to fight against human trafficking and exploitation in our area and the state of MO.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
While growing up, I always wanted to be an advocate for vulnerable people in our community specially children and individuals with disabilities to protect them from harmful practices in our communities. During my doctoral study, I was introduced to the ethics of care philosophy which I found its elements very aligned with my family principles as growing up. Consequently, I am a huge fan of this idea that justice is not comprehensive without care. In other words, to be able to have a just society, we need to teach our children to become loving and caring members of our communities; we need to teach our children to become good citizens to care and be kind to one another.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gahtmo.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gahtmo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GAHTMO
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gahtmo/
- Twitter: https://x.com/GAHTMO
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI7APgA6FbjN0VZM22nL30A
Image Credits
Zahra Rostami
