National Human Trafficking Awareness Day
We have a problem my friend……
I’ve asked my friend, best-selling author Nancy Beer, to share her knowledge and experience about this important topic:
While the human experience has a lot of problems, the one I want to speak about is one that is a topic we can do something about.
What is Human Trafficking and what can we do about it?
Human trafficking is modern day slavery, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry set to surpass the drug trade and enslaves 14.5 million victims worldwide. It has different forms; sex trafficking, forced labor and organs. I will be focusing on sex trafficking and show you what you can do to help. In 2017 in the USA alone, there were over 10,615 reported cases, most go unreported. How in the world can this possibly be going on around us and we don’t know? It’s such a dark topic that we close our eyes and pretend it’s not real. The facts show that 88% of the worlds trafficked victims are Americans, the Center for Missing Children reports an 846% increase in human trafficking.
The common age that a child enters the sex trafficking trade is middle school about 12 years old, too young and naive to realize what’s happening. Lost to this monster, they (our children) are waiting and losing hope that we will open our eyes and notice that he/she is being bought and sold.
I don’t just want to give you statistics, a horror story or a problem that feels too unsurmountable to fix. I want to show you that the problem is real and as individuals along with uniting our communities, we can do something about human trafficking.
Victims come from all walks of life but are most commonly found among the vulnerable (those without a strong support system) because they are more prone to be a troubled child or runaway, without a caring adult to ask “Where are you?” or “Are you ok?” There has been a recent rise among middle to upper class as well, it’s believed to be because the children lack “street smarts”.
Why and how could this be happening to our children?
A buyer: fuels the market with their money
A trafficker: exploits victims to earn revenue from buyers
A victim: includes both boys and girls who are bought and sold for profit.
The cycle repeats over and over to the approximate amount of $200K a year per victim, with a life expectancy of about 7 years from the time of capture.
What can we do?
1. Acknowledge this issue as real/ Awareness
2. Know the signs of a victim and a trafficker : see insert picture
3. Protect children/teens toolkit online : www.sharedhope.org/.internetsafety
4. Protect survivors and help them heal : organizations such as Elite foundation
https://elitefundsfreedom.org/
5. Harsher sentences for traffickers : contact your state representatives https://act.sharedhope.org/actioncenter
6. Cut the consumer demand/buyer : https://youtu.be/IdHv_VfAWs8
7. Follow your states report card: www.sharedhope.org/reportcards
To download a copy of the poster: http://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Warning-Signs-of-Sex-Trafficking-Shared-Hope-International.pdf
You can find Nancy on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancy.s.beer
or https://www.facebook.com/NancyBeerinbloom/
Thank you, Nancy, for sharing your knowledge on this imporatnt topic!
