You Can
fight Child Trafficking Right Now.
"The world is
a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because
of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein
Among the worst crimes committed against
children, inaction is surely the most preventable. Every time you
tell someone about what is happening to children around the world,
each time you have the courage to speak the unspeakable,
you are giving a voice to a child who suffers in the awful silence
of slavery. There are many ways to help protect children from sexual
exploitation and make a difference in someone’s life. Below
are a few ideas.
- Be vigilant. Stay alert to all forms of
human or child trafficking. Use your cell phone camera. Record
addresses, license plates or activities. Keep in mind forced labor
occurs almost everywhere. If you suspect someone you encounter
is a victim, ask them these questions.
- Raise awareness about child trafficking.
Write letters to legislators and publications. Organize lectures,
conferences, and briefings with businesses, schools, religious
institutions and community organizations.
- Report abuse. If you suspect abuse in
the United States, contact the Trafficking in Persons and Work
Exploitation Task Force at the U.S. Department of Justice: 888-428-7581.
If you suspect abuse abroad, report it to reliable law enforcement,
or to U.S. authorities.
- Contribute to
effective organizations fighting child trafficking.
• Regularly let your elected officials know that you oppose
child trafficking and want protections for children everywhere
in the world.
- Stay informed. Find out if the U.S. government
is enforcing sanctions against all countries that are not making
significant efforts to eliminate trafficking. If they are not,
ask them why through letters, emails, editorials, etc.
- Keep up to date on the quickly changing
issues surrounding modern-day slavery in all its forms. As political
situations shift, natural disasters strike, warfare erupts and
transnational crime evolves, children face new dangers every day.
- Talk to your children about child trafficking
and how to stay safe. Find out what to say and how to say it by
contacting the experts, the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children at Missingkids.com.
- Be a Demanding Consumer. Currently, there
is a U.S. law which prohibits the importation of products made
with “forced or indentured child labor.” However,
with the massive amount of products imported into the United States,
it is nearly impossible to enforce this law. You can help by knowing
what you are buying.
- Insist on Fair Trade products, especially
for chocolate and coffee. This will ensure better lives by providing
suppliers with enough money for health care, education for their
children, and sustainable production methods. Go to Transfairusa.org
for more information and to Fairtradefederation.org
for a list of Fair Trade retailers and wholesalers in your area.
- Look for the Rugmark
label when purchasing wool rugs. This ensures that the manufacturer
only employs skilled, adult artisans and that no child labor was
used. Also, a portion of the price of your rug pays for the education
of former child laborers. Rugmark
provides an excellent model for ending slave labor and caring
for its victims. Go to Rugmark.org
for information and a list of retailers.
- Be selective when you travel by only using
travel related services which adhere to the Code
of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation
in Travel and Tourism. You may be surprised by the names of
major corporations in the travel industry which do not participate
in this simple protocol. Go to Thecode.org
to find out.
If you suspect someone you encounter is a
victim, ask them these questions.
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