Willingly no one chooses the yoke of slavery. – Aeschylus
Child slaves in Ghana
Tomorrow is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, and I ask you all to take a moment to look into the seriousness of this problem, and realize that is effects all countries, all races, all religions, all ages and sexes. It is for that reason that the 110TH CONGRESS – 1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 40 – CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, which passed the Senate on June 22, 2007, was set up to support the goals and ideals of observing the established National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness on January 11 of each year, for which it was set to raise awareness of, and opposition to human trafficking.
According to the U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report, some 800,000 persons are victims of trafficking each year, seven times more than in 1960. The victims are mostly woman and children who are often used as sex slaves, forced to endure harsh labor or even to fight wars. The numbers do not always include those who remain enslaved in their own countries, and many believe figures on trafficked persons are much higher than officially reported. There are some 27 million people, who are living lives as slaves today around the world. It is widely believed that there are at least 2 million children used as slaves in the commercial sex industry worldwide. Prices for these modern day slaves are at an all time low, while profits remain high, leading some to believe the problem is worse now than during the days of legalized slavery.
“We could eradicate slavery. The laws are in place. The multi-nationals, the world trade organizations, the United Nations, they could end slavery, but they’re not going to do it until and unless we demand it.” –Kevin Bales
In honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, January 11, 2008, various events will be taking place across the country, so please look for events in your community…better yet, organize your own! If you know of any events taking place, please share them with the other readers and post a comment with the event details today.
Events include those such as; ModernDaySlavery.org is hosting various online events and activities, including video downloads, a free 30 minute online seminar, and a live call-in radio show on Drive Time-Talk Time. The radio interview will feature activist and author of Modern Day Slavery: Human Trafficking Revealed, Catherine Paris who will discuss human trafficking. The show can be heard on air from 3:00PM – 4:00PM (EST), calls to the show can be made to (347) 945-5541. The program will be archived following it’s airing, and can be found on the shows website.
UN GIFT (United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking) also has a number of events taking place, please click their link to find out more. UN GIFT events will come to an end at the Global Forum against Human Trafficking, which takes place from 13th to 15th Feb 2008, in Vienna.
“Massive poverty and obscene inequality are such terrible scourges of our times – times in which the world boasts breathtaking advances in science, technology, industry and wealth accumulation – that they have to rank alongside slavery and apartheid as social evils.” -Nelson Mandela
I hope you will take this day and use your voice to raise awareness on the issues of human trafficking, so that we may win the fight against slavery once and for all. Let us win the fight so that future generations of children can truly be free and know nothing of slavery, for no other reason than it was that of something they learned in a history class.
Please see my article from the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions Analysis: Child Trafficking and my previous posts related to child trafficking. You can also find more information by visiting any of the organizations listed on my Human Trafficking Links, watching one of the videos on my Human Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and Documentaries list, and by reading some of the related books on my Book List.
