...Be part of Human Trafficking Awareness Day, that is. That day is today -- 1/11/11. Here are some sad facts about why we need such an event:
1.2 million
Number of children trafficked each year for sex around the world. (UNICEF)
11
Average age of sex workers around the world. Some are as young as 5 years old. (CIA)
100,000
Number of children and young women who are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11. (FBI/ABC News)
200,000
Number of U.S. children at risk for commercial sexual exploitation. (US Department of Justice)
$9.5 billion
Amount of money generated annually by human trafficking. (FBI)
2nd
Ranking of human trafficking among all income-generating syndicates (illegal drugs are #1; illegal arms are #3) (Stop the Traffic)
We can change these statistics.
“Given all the power and resources that God has placed in the hands of humankind," writes Gary Haughen, president of International Justice Mission, in his book Terrify No More, "I have yet to see any injustice of humankind that could not also be stopped by humankind."
My goal is to work myself out of a job.
I really don't want to be fighting this horror the rest of my life. The only way that will happen is for all of us to work togther to end it now.
Audacious, you say? Yes, it is. In the words of my fellow abolitionist Rob Morris, director of Love 146, "Ending human trafficking is not idealistic or naive. It is audacious. And it is people of audacity who change the world."
So on this day, 1/1/11, I ask you to be a world-changer and work to stop human trafficking in your city. If we all do that, we won't have to have a Human Trafficking Awareness Day ever again.
* * *
To learn what The Born2Fly Project is doing to stop child trafficking, visit www.born2fly.org.
Here's a guest post I wrote for Safe4Women about how I first learned about child trafficking: The Day My Life Changed.
Comments