Yesterday, January 11, 2012, was the fourth annual National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Organizations around the country hosted events to bring greater awareness of this modern day slavery and calls to action to fight against it.
A sampling of a few of the happenings demonstrates that US citizens are insisting that our governmental agencies and communities take notice and take action to stop sex trafficking, child sex slavery and labor trafficking.
Seattle: Petitions from 720,000 individuals were presented to Attorney General Rob McKenna, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, calling for an end to sex trafficking. The signature drive was headed by The Body Shop beauty retailer, ECPAT USA, and The Somaly Mam Foundation.
Sacramento: Calls from all country flooded Governor Jerry Brown’s office on behalf of Sara Kruzan. The callers asked for clemency for a 16-year-old girl who killed her pimp after being trafficked by him for years. She has served 18 years of a life sentence and has become an activist from prison against human trafficking.
Phoenix: Shared Hope International conducted an all day training for sex trafficking activists on January 12.
Washington DC: The Washington Times ran a story about a2010 survey of 25 former pimps, giving demographics and stories to illustrate the lifestyle of some sex traffickers.
Washington DC: The Polaris Project is sponsoring a month long photo event for citizens to submit a picture of themselves with a sign indicating they are part of a group that is against Human Trafficking.
St. Louis: Nix Conference and Meeting Managers signed a Meeting Planners` Code of Conduct, created with ECPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking.), The group will train their client hotels to look for signs of trafficking and work to save the victims.
Indiana: The state Senate unamimously passed a “the most comprehensive” anti-trafficking bill in the county. The legislation goes to the House and is expected to be passed and in place a week before the SuperBowl, the sporting event that draws huge numbers of traffickkers and their entourages.
Hawaii: 7 new anti-trafficking bills were introduced in the state legislature, including prevention programs in the school.
Toledo: The Sisters of St.Francis hosted a conference of women’s groups to learn how to deal with sex trafficking victims. The city is the 4th largest hub of sex slavery in the US. See video.
Placed in the middle of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day has become one for creatively addressing the challenges of modern day slavery. The cause of abolishing exploitation of people is gaining momentum, and people are beginning to take a zero-tolerance attitude in the matter. After all, our children, our communities, our nation and our future are at stake.
If you suspect that someone is being trafficked, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline – 1 888-373-7888.
Tags: abduction of children, anti-trafficking laws, buying girls, child porn, child pornography, child prostitutes, child prostitution, child rape, child rape survivor, child rape survivor treatment center, child rapist, child sex, child sex abuse, child sex porn, child sex slavery, child sex trafficking, child-rape-for-profit, convicted sex offender, DMST, forced prostitution, gang rape, gangrape, human sex trafficking, Human slavery, human trafficing, human trafficking, johns, kiddie porn, National human trafficking awareness day, pimp, Pimp culture, Polaris Project, prostituting of minors, prostitution of minors, Rape, rapists, Sara Kruzan, sex abuse survivors, sex crimes, sex crimes against children, sex offender, sex slavery, sex slavery victim, sex trafficing, sex trafficking, sex trafficking survivor residential care, Sex trafficking survivor safehouse, sex trafficking survivor shelter, sex trafficking victim, sexslavery, sextrafficking, sexual predator, Shared Hope International, stop human trafficking, stop-child-rape, stopchildrape, StreetLight Phoenix, teen sex, Trafficking of children, Trafficking of minors, young porn
