In December 2016, President Barack Obama instituted January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In his proclamation he stated, “Today, in too many places around the world – including right here in the United States – the injustice of modern slavery and human trafficking still tears at our social fabric.”

When thinking about Human Trafficking most people think of sex trafficking, however there are other ways that people are being bought and sold including forced labor, domestic servitude, organ harvesting, child soldiers and forced marriage. Millions of people throughout the world, including right here in the United States, are being forced into a life that is not of their choosing.

We must all raise our voices to shut down this billion-dollar industry! There are numerous actions that can be taken to help to increase public awareness and to stop this horrible injustice. Will you take the time to read and act?

1. On Thursday, January 11^th, participate in “The Blue Campaign” by wearing a blue ribbon. Spread the word by distributing blue ribbons to others and taking a picture of yourself, your friends, family and co-workers wearing blue ribbons and post on social media with #WearBlueDay. Include a statement to explain the meaning of the ribbon and why you are participating.
2. Go to the App Store and download:
   • TraffickCam App: Each time you travel, use the TraffickCam App to take pictures of your hotel room to add to the national database used by law enforcement to track places where trafficking is taking place.
   • The STOP App: Use the STOP app to report suspicious activity related to trafficking.
   • Sweat and Toil App: The Sweat & Toil app to learn how goods are produced and by whom.
3. Visit Know The Chain to educate yourself about the risk of forced labor in the apparel, food, and technology industries.
4. Check your state’s report card. States receive grades from A to F from Shared Hope International, which keeps a close eye on how each state meets certain criteria related to stopping human trafficking.
5.  Save, post, and distribute the National Human Trafficking hotline number.
6. When traveling, choose a hotel that has signed the Tourism Children Protection Code of Conduct sponsored by EPCAT-USA.
7. Ask your church or organization to include an announcement in the bulletin (or elsewhere) regarding National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, noting that January 11th is “Wear Blue Day.” Encourage others to get involved in the movement to educate others by hosting workshops or presentations.
8. Take the steps to learn more! Try these websites:
   • End Sexual Exploitation
   • Polaris Project
   • Social Media & Sex Trafficking Process
   • How to Talk to Kids about Human Trafficking

For additional tips to learn more about human trafficking, don’t hesitate to contact the Office of Migration & Modern Slavery!

Much has been written about the scope of human trafficking throughout the world. While there isn’t an agreement as to exact numbers due to the difficulty in identifying victims, there is a general acceptance of certain components of human trafficking.

1. Human trafficking responds to and is driven by demand for cheap goods and commercialized sex. And this demand is enormous! Indeed, human trafficking is a business that generates a profit of approximately $32 billion annually. There are around 30 million trafficked people around the world, including some 5.5 million children.
2. Human trafficking is a crime that is gendered, the primary victims being women and girls. However, the number of trafficked men and boys is increasing. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UN ODC) report indicates that women constitute approximately 51% of trafficked persons, men 21%, girls 20%, and boys 8%. This report identifies the most common form of trafficking is sexual exploitation, which is most in demand in western and southern Europe.
3. Some forms of human trafficking are a result of other types of crises, such as forced armed recruitment of child soldiers, the demand for exploitative sexual services by armed groups, or the enslavement of persecuted ethnic minorities. The links between other forms of human trafficking and crisis situations are less direct, such as the opportunistic trafficking of displaced persons for the purposes of forced labor in neighboring countries or cases where children are trafficked into the international adoption market.
4. Human trafficking is both global and local. That is, many human traffickers are recognized as being highly organized criminal networks with a very broad reach. This, frequently combined with extensive government corruption, means that many trafficking organizations are international forces. At the same time, however, the forms of trafficking that emerge in communities are not uniform. The rules of supply and demand state that the nature, shape, and form of trafficking will be different depending on the community. For example, labor trafficking on a rural South American coffee farm will be different from sex trafficking in a Korean nightclub. However, both manifestations of the crime may arise from a highly organized criminal network with local connections that allow them to deceive and/or control the local source of victims and to engage in the necessary corruption to create a successful business empire.
5. Victims of modern slavery are often subject to inhuman living conditions and psychological and physical abuse. They face starvation and drug addition in order for traffickers to assert control over them. Traffickers are known to threaten and/or harm victims’ family members.
6. Modern slavery is a complex issue caused by many dynamic and interdependent elements that makes it too difficult for any single organization to solve it alone.
7. Human trafficking is a crime in itself, but it is rarely the end goal for a perpetrator. Once the act of human trafficking is complete, it normally leads to further crimes like enslavement, sexual and/or physical violence, etc.
8. Combatting human trafficking has never been more challenging, especially in the midst of the worst migration crisis since World War II. Migrants, especially refugees, are vulnerable to traffickers abusing their situation and preying on their desperation for a safe haven. However, “most people are never identified as trafficking victims are, therefore, cannot access most of the assistance or protection provided.” This is often the case as the movement of refugees and migrants is significantly mixed, making it easier for traffickers to infiltrate and prey upon the vulnerable.

Do you ever feel as if the issues of human trafficking is too big to make a difference? While the issues cannot be solved by one individual, that one person can make a difference! Learning about and getting involved in the fight against human trafficking has changed many lives.

By now, you’ve probably heard that, on April 6, the federal government has seized and disabled Backpage.com and affiliated websites. This is a huge step forward as the nation recognizes sexual exploitation as intolerable; however, there is still much work to be done.

Over the past several years, Backpage and other websites have posted an online environment where it is as easy to purchase a human being for sex as it is to order a pizza. Buyers will no longer be able to easily access such websites and the rates of exploitation of vulnerable people will sharply decline.

“Backpage has earned hundreds of millions of dollars from facilitating prostitution and sex trafficking, placing profits over the well-being and safety of the many thousands of women and children who were victimized by its practices,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange. “It is appropriate that Backpage is now facing criminal charges in Arizona, where the company was founded, and I applaud the tremendous efforts of the agents who contributed to last Friday’s enforcement action and who assisted in obtaining the indictment in this case. Some of the internal emails and company documents described in the indictment are shocking in their callousness.”

Currently, Backpage is the world’s second largest classified advertising website. It is valued at more than $500 million and is operating in 97 countries and 943 locations worldwide.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), Backpage is involved in 73% of the suspected child trafficking reports it receives from the public. In the words of Massachusetts Attorney General, Maura Healey, “the vast majority of prosecutions for sex trafficking now involve online advertising, and most of those advertisements appear on Backpage.”

Last year, the NCMEC reported an 846& increased from 2010-2015 in reports of suspected child sex trafficking which they surmised to be “directly correlated to the increased use of the internet to sell children for sex,” said Amy Zimmerman in the Daily Beast.

I applaud those who have helped in any way to accomplishing this feat! This is one giant leap forward in the fight against modern day slavery!