Raising Awareness Of Human Trafficking & What We Can Do
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day is on January 11. It is very difficult for us to believe that such horrific travesties still exist in our world today, and yet the incredibly sad truth is that many are still living lives of slavery and bondage without simple freedoms and liberties.
We tend to think that this is happening someplace far away from where we live, but we cannot escape the fact that it is happening in every corner of the world. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), “Human trafficking affects every country of the world, as countries of origin, transit or destination—or even a combination of all.”
To be really clear, human trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery.
Those vulnerable to human trafficking span multiple areas, such as age, socio-economic status, nationality, education-level, and gender. Traffickers often prey on people hoping for a better life, lacking employment opportunities, having an unstable home life, or with a history of sexual abuse—conditions present in all spheres of society. Human trafficking victims are found in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all 50 states and in Washington, DC. The most vulnerable populations include undocumented immigrants; runaway and homeless youth; victims of trauma and abuse; refugees and individuals fleeing conflict; and oppressed, marginalized, and impoverished groups and individuals.
We can join the efforts of anti-trafficking organizations, as well as educate ourselves on good business practices, so that we are not inadvertently purchasing goods that were created by forced labor. We can keep our eyes and ears open, so that if we suspect someone is being coerced into something he or she does not want to do, we can report it to the proper authorities.
For more information visit For help in the United States, go to
www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/get-help www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/
LEARN MORE ABOUT HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN OREGON
www.traffickingresourcecenter.org/state/oregon
GET HELP
1-888-373-7888 |