Disciples Women Address Human Trafficking

 

How Bad Is It?

            600,000 - 800,000 humans are trafficked across international borders each year

            18,000 – 20,000 are trafficked into the United States each year

            The majority are women and children

 

Human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world. 2nd behind drugs and ahead of illegal arms.

 

Effects of Human Trafficking

Devastating effects on individual victims who suffer physical and emotional abuse

Undermines safety and security of every nation it touches

 

Common Themes of Victim’s Stories

Children are given to others for care to help alleviate poverty conditions at home

Women are promised a job and a better life in a new land

Common denominator is poverty

 

What’s being done?

Governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are getting involved

U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act

National Council of Churches Justice for Women working group taking a stand

Other U. S. and ecumenical involvement

 

Abolishing Modern Day Slavery

Increase rescue of trafficking victims

Increase prosecutions of traffickers

Treat people freed from slavery as victims not criminals

Stop the demand for modern day slaves

 

What can we do?

Educate ourselves as to the extent of the problem

Participate in the Disciples Women Break the Chains Social Action Project on Human Trafficking

      by supporting an organization committed to ending slave trade in our time

 

 

Organizations Committed to Ending Slave Trade

NEW:  End Cocoa Slavery  www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/

            Global Exchange is concerned for the 284,000 children engaged in abusive labor in West Africa’s cocoa fields.  This page will bring

                you up-to-date on their conditions, and how you can support this fair-trade effort.

 

Children of the Night www.childrenofthenight.org

            Children of the Night is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1979 and is dedicated to assisting children between the ages of 11       

and 17 who are forced into prostitution in order to eat and have a place to sleep.  They rescue hundreds of children each year.  They             

partner with detectives, FBI agents and prosecutors.  They assist other agencies across the country and around the world to develop             

similar programs.  They are headquartered in Southern California

 

Polaris Project www.polarisproject.org

The Polaris Project is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the United States and Japan with programs operating at international,

 national and local levels.  They have offices in Washington DC; Newark, NJ; Denver, CO; and Tokyo, Japan.  Their program includes

conducting direct outreach and victim identification, providing social services and transitional housing for victims.

They have received numerous awards for their achievements

 

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) www.castla.org

The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking or CAST is a multi-ethnic human rights organization who assists persons trafficked for the

purpose of forced labor.  They help victims recover from years of abuse and trauma so they may become self-sufficient.  They opened the first

shelter for trafficked women in the United States.  Their focus is on justice, dignity and empowerment of trafficked persons. 

CAST partners with law enforcement and government agencies to ensure criminal prosecution of traffickers.

 

Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT) www.stophumantrafficking.org

The Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (FCAHT) is an entity within the Immigrant Rights Advocacy Center, a non-profit

corporation establish in 2004.  They participate with law enforcement on human trafficking cases and provide outreach and advocacy

services to at-risk people, especially in southwestern Florida.

 

Human Trafficking:  www.humantrafficking.com

The Emancipation Network:  www.emancipationnetwork.net

Save the Survivors:  www.madebysurvivors.com

 


RESOURCES FOR STUDYING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

            Most of these items available on Amazon or Borders websites

 

BOOKS

The Sacred Bath – An American Teen’s Story of Modern Day Slavery by

Enslaved:  True Stories of Modern Day Slavery by Gloria Steinem (5 stars)

A Crime so Monstrous:  Face to Face with Modern Day Slavery by Benjamin Skinner

Sex Trafficking:  The Global Market in Women and Children by Kathryn Farr

Sex Trafficking:  Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Siddarth Kara

Woman, Child For Sale:  The New Slave Trade in the 21st Century by Gilbert King

Human Trafficking by Maggy Lee

Sold by Patricia McCormick

Human Traffic – Sex, Slaves and Immigration by Craig McGill

Disposable People:  New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales

 

MOVIES AND DVD’S

Human Trafficking starring Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland – a 3 hour Lifetime channel series

Trade DVD movie starring Kevin Klein

 

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