What is it worth to you? Are you willing to bear the burden of your choice or would you rather know the bare truths before you choose?
Globally, Human Trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry and the average cost of a person sold into this modern day slavery is $90 U.S.D.
"I am someone's child once held so tight. Now I am held in bondage that I am too weak to break."
AIn 2017 alone, the National Human Trafficking Hotline reported that 2,762 children had been victimized in the United States.
The International Labor Organization reports that 1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children.
"Am I merely a product of the market? Is my value measured solely by my actions or do my actions justify my worth?"
Human Trafficking is the 3rd largest international crime industry behind only to illegal drugs and arms trafficking. According to the International Labor Organization women and girls represent 99% of victims in commercial sex trafficking and 58% in other trafficking.
Human Trafficking is a crime of opportunity. Victims are lured with false promises of economic opportunities. Traffickers are highly skilled at deception and exploitation and they are void of conscious boundaries.
Technology has become a vehicle of choice by traffickers in pursuing their victims. It gives these perpetrators anonymity while they gain the trust of their target.
"I am not who I have become. I am more. I am not without emotion. But I am despair. I am judged for what I must endure. Somewhere deep inside I am still me. I do not deserve condemnation."
The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 as amended, provides tools to help combat Human Trafficking. Like any other tool, it is only as effective as those who use it. Alone these tools are useless.
The reality of bringing justice to traffickers, consumers and victims of Human Trafficking is challenging because of myths, misunderstanding and misconception of what Human Trafficking is and isn't. State laws vary and there are numerous practical challenges in prosecutions.
While many states legally recognize all forms of human trafficking, people generally do not. Most people look at Human Trafficking as something that happens "over there". They do not realize it is happening before them and possibly to someone that they know.
Human Trafficking knows no boundaries. According to the U.S. Department of State, 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders every year.
The states with the highest reported instances of Human Trafficking in the U.S. in order are California, Texas, Florida, Ohio and New York.
Victims of Human Trafficking represent every race, every nationality and every socioeconomic demographic.
It only takes one person to change the life of another. Will you bare witness to the atrocities of this modern form of slavery called Human Trafficking? Will you help bear the responsibility of righting what is wrong? Will you walk with us as we bear the weight of this injustice as we help carry the victims and survivors on their journey to freedom?
Credits:
Created with images by Richard Jaimes - "« Por un destello de luz »" • Ban Yido - "Malagasy Children Run" • Christian Holzinger - "untitled image" • Amr Elmasry - "Brother and Sister" • Wokandapix - "person homeless bullied hiding alone sadness male" • Christian Spies - "untitled image" • PublicDomainPictures - "chains feet sand bondage prison freedom punishment"