White Plains – Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-88) will host a 10 a.m. press conference on April 27 at The Ritz Carlton New York, Westchester to discuss A.6834, legislation she authored that would require lodging facilities in New York State to provide a human trafficking recognition training program to all its employees.

The legislation also calls for all lodging facilities to post a notice in certain public spaces on how human trafficking victims can get help.

“Hotels and motels are prime locations for traffickers to bring their victims for the purpose of selling them,” Paulin said. “It is imperative that hotel and motel employees learn to recognize the signs of human trafficking and know what to do if they see a victim or a trafficker. Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry and young girls and boys are being victimized every day in New York, regardless of whether they live in an urban, suburban or rural area.

“Traffickers often capitalize on the lack of awareness on the part of hotel staff, managers and executives who often do not know what to look for or what questions to ask or are unaware that human trafficking can occur at their hotels. This training will help prevent traffickers from using hotels and motels as a base of operations.”

Marriott International, which owns the Ritz Carlton brand, has been a lodging-industry leader in the fight against human trafficking. Marriott established mandatory human trafficking training for all employees at its 6000 properties worldwide earlier this year, providing them with the skills and resources needed to recognize the signs of human trafficking.

“Marriott International is committed to respecting human rights and empowering our associates with the tools to identify the signs of human trafficking,” said Tu Rinsche, who is the Director, Corporate Social Responsibility at Marriott. “We are proud to have partnered with ECPAT-USA, Polaris and the American Hotel and Lodging Association on our new human trafficking training, which is required of all our associates globally.”

Additional speakers include Anneke Lucas, Carol Smolenski and Rev. Adrian Dannhauser. Lucas is a child sex trafficking survivor and founder of the Liberation Prison Yoga. She runs a special program at Rikers Island Jail Complex in New York City with incarcerated survivors of sex trafficking.

Smolenski is the executive director and one of the founders of ECPAT-USA, which is a children’s rights organization that has worked for the protection of children from commercial sexual exploitation since 1991.

“ECPAT-USA is happy to see the growing momentum in the hospitality industry to protect children against sexual exploitation and trafficking, but more needs to be done. We applaud Assemblywoman Amy Paulin for introducing this bill, which will increase the reach of our message to all hotels in New York,” Smolenski said.

Dannhauser is a priest at Church of the Incarnation in Manhattan and chairs the Episcopal Diocese of the New York Task Force Against Human Trafficking. She also sits on the board of ECPAT-USA and serves as a borough director for the "Not On My Watch!" movement of NYC Faith-Based Coalition Against Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence.

"The Episcopal Diocese of New York has been a strong supporter of and advocate for training that enables hotels to identify and respond to signs of child sex trafficking on their premises,” Dannhauser said. “Such training has been proven to lead to the rescue of victims and arrest of those who exploit them. We are grateful to Assembly Member Paulin for proposing legislation that would make such training mandatory and enthusiastically support its passage. The measures called for by this bill are a vital step in answering God's call for justice and furthering God's work of bringing freedom to the captives and liberation to the oppressed."