By Miriam Merrill
Did you know that approximately 15,000 people are trafficked in the United States annually? These horrendous statistics require great action on our part. Though it’s difficult to discuss, a little education can go a long way in the fight against human trafficking. Do you wonder where to start? Keep reading for five things you can do today to fight against human trafficking.
- Take a Training Course
Operation Underground Railroad’s work has been making headlines lately. You can register for an hour-long course designed to teach you to recognize the signs of human trafficking, so we can all be advocates in the fight against trafficking. The course is intended for ages 16 and up and it is completely FREE.
To register or for more information, visit Operation Underground Railroad’s webpage here.
- Download the TraffickCam App
According to the app’s website traffickers regularly post photographs of their victims posed in hotel rooms for online advertisements. These photos can be used as evidence against the perpetrators, but only if investigators know where the photos were taken. The TraffickCam App invites users to upload photos of any hotel room they stay in when they travel. The hope is to make a large, photo directory of hotel rooms across the world to help combat sex trafficking.
To download the app visit TraffickCam’s website here.
- Check the Filters on Your Computer
Many people naively believe that there is no connection between porn and trafficking, but that could not be further from the truth. According to Fight the New Drug, countless women have been kidnapped, threatened, and coerced into doing porn, which is the exact definition of sex trafficking. Additionally, using porn fuels the demand for traffickers to keep making and selling videos of their slaves. Consumer choice is a powerful thing, and as more people refuse porn the videos become less and less valuable.
Read more about the connection between trafficking and pornography here. For a list of the best filtering software on the market right now, visit this website.
- Boycott Companies on the Dirty Dozen List
Many popular companies actually profit from, or facilitate, sexual exploitation. For the past few years the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has published a Dirty Dozen List to highlight some of the biggest names that perpetuate exploitation through a variety of methods, one of which is sex trafficking. 2018’s list includes companies like Amazon, HBO, and Snapchat. The list is there to empower those that want a voice through consumer choice. It also offers several suggestions of ways you can contact the companies to demand improvements.
To see the full list, click here.
- Take a Quiz to See How Many Slaves It Takes to Maintain Your Lifestyle
Slavery Footprint will take you through an interactive quiz, asking you questions about your lifestyle and telling you the likely number of slaves it takes to make the products you use on a daily basis. The creators of the quiz, Made in a Free World, researched the supply chains of 400 consumer products to collect the data. After the inevitable wakeup call, reevaluate your consumer choices to ensure that each time you visit the grocery store you are picking brands that do not utilize slave labor.
To take the quiz, visit this website.
With a little education and awareness, may we all work together to win this fight against human trafficking in our world.