Youth for Human Rights advocates join marches to protect children against billion dollar sex-trafficking industry
“World Day Against Trafficking in Persons” marches bring awareness that child sex trafficking still plagues the US in 2020
Marches to protect children were held by a variety of organizations and groups in over 40 cities around the US to bring attention to this issue.
Shockingly, each year an estimated 25 million youth are trafficked around the world according to the June 2020 US State Department report on trafficking3. In the US, estimates place the number of trafficking victims in the hundreds of thousands. In 2019, the National Human Trafficking Hotline2 received 48,326 contacts with 11,500 cases documented.
Human Trafficking is the second largest income producing illegal business in the world, generating 150 billion dollars annually. The ILO (International Labor Organization) estimates there are currently 25 million people internationally who are victims of human trafficking.
“Human trafficking knows no racial or cultural bounds and adversely affects the lives of men, women and children across the globe,” said Erica Rodgers, Youth for Human Rights in Washington, DC.
Anti-trafficking advocates from Youth for Human Rights joined in marches held around the US, including Washington, DC; Tampa, Florida and other cities to fight against child sex trafficking and educate others on this key issue facing society.
Since its founding, Youth for Human Rights has advocated for the abolition of human trafficking, working at the local level with other human-trafficking organizations and at the national level advocating for Congressional bills to be passed to protect victims and reduce demand.
A key right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is “No Slavery.” While this might seem obvious at face value in today’s modern world, it is not at all a solved problem on the global stage. Human trafficking is in fact modern-day slavery -- a difficult reality that numerous like-minded groups and concerned individuals in the human rights field have banded together to abolish.
“So many wonderful groups work to educate the public on human trafficking,” Rodgers said. “Now we need to continue our shoulder-to-shoulder advocacy to save these vulnerable children, especially during the COVID-19 period.”
The abolition of modern-day slavery and the abolition of today’s human trafficking are factually one and the same. Many programs exist to support survivors around the US but there are never enough beds to provide safe housing for survivors. Groups speaking up on this important day urged government and foundation funding for programs to support survivors.
On August 4, 2020, the US Department of Justice announced that more than $35 million in Justice Department grants will go to organizations providing safe housing for human trafficking victims.
Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is the sister organization of United for Human Rights. It is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2001 to teach young people around the world about human rights, specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so they become advocates for tolerance and peace. YHRI has now grown into a global movement of individuals, groups and national and community leaders who are spreading the message of what human rights are and ways to implement and protect them. Youth for Human Rights International provides human rights educational materials for the classroom and outside of traditional educational settings. Aiming to reach young people from diverse backgrounds, YHRI’s materials have appeal to people from all generations. From teaching human rights through conferences and workshops to hip-hop and dancing, the message spreads across the globe. For more information on YHRI go to: https://www.scientology.tv/series/voices-for-humanity/mary-shuttleworth.html
Free materials are available to educate children on their human rights and respecting others’ rights at www.youthforhumanrights.org
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1 http://www.youthforhumanrights.org
2 https://humantraffickinghotline.org/states
3 https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020-TIP-Report-Complete-062420-FINAL.pdf