Imagine that out of the blue, you are kidnapped. These strangers aren’t holding you for ransom – no, you’re being taken somewhere far, far away. You will never see your family again, and your kidneys? Say goodbye to those, too.
With my project, “Community Coalitions for Awareness to End Human Trafficking” (or CCAEHT for short), I want to shed light on human trafficking, a trans-national crime which victimized over twenty million people in 2012 (ILO). As someone who believes that news coverage and social media can make a difference, I find it appalling that so many innocent lives have been ruined, yet this pressing matter receives little public attention.
The organ trade, sex slavery, and child prostitution are things people just don’t want to think about. Certainly, it is disturbing
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Department of State 2015 statistics for human trafficking show Colombia, Ghana, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Russia, and Turkey are rated Tier 2, Tier 2 watchlist, or Tier 3, the worst among them being Russia (The Guardian). With this in mind, I plan to establish community coalitions that watch out for signs of human trafficking and assist victims. The U.S. Department of State identifies several indicators of human trafficking, such as “multiple people living in cramped space” and “answers that appear to be scripted or rehearsed”. These “red flags” can alert coalition members that action needs to be taken, as sometimes, it may not be immediately obvious that a person is a victim of human trafficking. Accordingly, if people become aware of the tragic situations around them, they can empathize and extend a helping hand to those in their own community. Support can be gathered for this movement through fundraising websites, and effective communication can be maintained through group messaging and text-alert systems. By implementing CCAEHT, people who thought they would never live beyond what trafficking robbed them of would finally have a chance for escape and