43 Things You Can Do to Stop Child Trafficking

Last night at 11 pm I was having a conversation on Twitter with a very angry person. She had just watched a Law and Order episode about child slavery in Haiti and the US--and she was livid that such atrocities could be happening right in her own backyard.

She was ready to do something--anything--right then, but didn't know what to do.

I quickly Googled the name of her city and "human trafficking"--and we found that an active anti-trafficking coalition already exists not far from her. They're meeting in 2 weeks, and she's going.

I don't like the phrase "Think globally, act locally," because it keeps people confined within their own borders--but in the fight to stop child trafficking, "thinking globally" is good. There's trafficking right in your hometown and mine--and what we learn about the fight to stop the traffic here can be shared around the world (and vice versa).

Don't know what to do?

I've added lots more ideas to this blog. There are now 43 things you can do to stop child trafficking. Take a look at the list on the left, or click here if you're reading this as an email.

These are practical things anyone can do. You don't have to do all of them, but can you pick one and get started?

I'll be adding to the list--so leave your suggestions in a comment here. Let us know what you're doing to help stop the traffic.

To learn what Born to Fly International is doing, visit www.born2fly.org.

Meanwhile, this Sunday is Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Awareness Day. What will you do to help stop the traffic?

 

Photo of child carpet weaver: Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department

Comments

[Paola]

En Me9xico se promulgf3 la Ley Federal para Prevenir y Sancionar la Trata de Personas en Noviembre del af1o 2007. Se ardoba el fenf3meno desde la perspectiva del Derecho Penal, es decir, desde la sancif3n de conductas que son consideradas delito y el auxilio y atencif3n de las victimas. Una vez causado el delito, se busca la reparacif3n del daf1o en clave patrimonial bajo la lf3gica del intercambio. Se utiliza el poder punitivo del Estado, sin criticar las relaciones de poder que tienen lugar en la sociedad.Considero que es necesario replantear el papel que juega y que se ha atribuido al Derecho en las sociedades contempore1neas, ya que no se cuestiona a sed mismo ni a sus propios mecanismos de conformacif3n y aplicacif3n, mucho menos ejerce la credtica en contra de las instituciones que establece y mediante las cuales produce y reproduce mecanismos de exclusif3n, que operan a trave9s de la vigilancia, el control y la correccif3n.Es tiempo de que las sociedades exapropien la nocif3n de justicia del e1mbito legal y estatal, establezcan vinculos con los otros de formas distintas, para pasar de una sociedad mediada y gobernada por las instituciones estatales a otro tipo de sociedades donde problemas como el de la explotacif3n sexual y laboral de personas pueda evitarse, afan sin la intervencif3n del Estado, conformando nuevas maneras de relacionarse, en el ejercicio credtico respecto de cualquier forma de sometimiento y de naturalizacif3n de la violencia, en el ejercicio de la credtica de ge9nero que ponga en cuestif3n modelos tradicionales de dominacif3n, que en su conjunto produzcan relaciones me1s justas don independencia de la ley y sus aplicaciones, para permitir una mejor humanidad por venir.

[tacfit warrior review]

How can East Asia help stop child trafficking and increase wages for laborers while still being a powerhouse?
East Asia is an economic powerhouse when it somes to global trade, but their techniques in gaining this is terrible. They use child trafficking, which takes kids away from their homes to be laborers. The laborers don't earn enough money when they're carrying the country's future. Without them, they would really be nothing. So how do you stop child trafficking, increase wages, while still keeping the countries afloat?

[somanabolic]

Child trafficking is the second most lucrative crime in the world after drugs; it generates an approximate thirty two billion dollars in revenue a year, twelve billion of which comes from child trafficking alone. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked annually; these children are usually forced into child labor or child prostitution. Trafficked children are put through a life of torture, both mentally and physically. The effects of time spent in the clutches or their captors stay with them for their entire life, even if they are rescued. Given no respect, care, or opportunities, these children find it hard to re-establish life as free beings.

[D. Monaco]

is it really possible that this could be happening in my own town.

[Diana Scimone]

Thank you, BPO India. I'm glad the post motivated you to do something to fight child trafficking. Leave us a comment later on and let us know what happens.

Diana

[BPO India]

Finally there is someone who thinks the way I think. Even I don't believe in " Think Globally Act Locally". Infact now I have stopped trusting on the organizations who work on child trafficking. As I have seen many cops are included in such activities. I was never ever able to gather the strength to fight against this. But now its high time. We all have to do some thing for child trafficking.
Your post was really good.