January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

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January is the National Human Trafficking Awareness Month and Sunday, January 11, is the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. What is human trafficking? It is the modern day slave trade, which is worse than it ever has been in history. According to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (n.d.), the Trafficking Victims Protections Act, defines human trafficking and sex trafficking in the following ways:

“Sex trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age, (22 USC § 7102).
“Labor trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purposes of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, (22 USC § 7102),”

The numbers below represent part of the story of human trafficking. These numbers are heartbreaking and probably a low estimate.  






Here, at Transitions, we are joining in the fight against this growing crime.  We are providing education to local schools, community awareness events, direct services to victims of human trafficking, etc.  Transitions is a member of the newly formed Pennsylvania Alliance Against Trafficking in Humans (PAATH), which is dedicated to creating a state-wide implementation process for the new state legislation, Act 105.  Act 105, is PA’s newest legislation regarding this crime. To learn more about this Act click here:
http://www.senatorleach.com/issues/pennsylvania-advocates-brief-human-trafficking-policy

If you see suspicious activity or think you might know someone who is a victim of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.

Want to learn more about human trafficking? Visit www.polarisproject.org or www.traffickingresourcecenter.org.

Submitted by Missy H.

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