Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month
What is Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month?
January is also known as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. It is a key time for us all as individuals to educate ourselves about human trafficking and crucially to learn to spot the signs of trafficking. It is also a time for us take these messages to our workplaces, our churches, our schools, our representatives and everywhere else.
Human trafficking is a crime in which force, fraud, or coercion is used to compel a person to perform labor, services, or commercial sex. It affects all populations: adults, children, men, women, foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, and all economic classes. The Defense Department continues to raise awareness and do its part to end this crime.
The history behind Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month
Modern slavery is where one person controls another by exploiting a vulnerability. It is often linked with human trafficking, where a person is forced into a service against their will – usually forced work or prostitution. The control can be physical, financial or psychological.
40.3 million people in forced labor, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, and forced marriage worldwide
$150 billion made each year from forced labor, that’s over $4,750 a second
We have rescued hundreds of people, including babies younger than one-year-old X 4 and adults up to the age of 63
On 31 December 2012 Barack Obama declared January the National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. In his proclamation, President Obama explains that “trafficking networks operate both domestically and trans-nationally, and although abuses disproportionately affect women and girls, the victims of this ongoing global tragedy are men, women, and children of all ages. Around the world, we are monitoring the progress of governments in combating trafficking while supporting programs aimed at its eradication”.
How Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month is practiced?
To support the Campaign, the UN launched the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons. The Fund was established following the adoption by the General Assembly in July 2010 of the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The fund will also help Governments, as well as intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, to protect and support victims of human trafficking so they can recover from their physical and psychological injuries. The United Nations gives essential support and protection to the victims of human trafficking through contributions received from the Blue Heart Campaign.
In which countries is Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month practiced?
This is particularly practiced in the United States of America.
Want to practice Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month?
If you commit to do just one thing to mark National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month in January 2021, the single best action you can take is to learn how to spot the signs of trafficking.
