Today is National Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Awareness Day, and the purpose of this post/e-mail is to make you are aware that Slavery today is alive and well. Kicking and, actually, mutilating. Men, Young women, youths, children.
Did you know that, at the height of the transatlantic slave trade, about 80,000 Africans every year were enslaved in the USA ? Well, I'm writing about a global slavery trade that was enslaving 10 times that in 2003 - with probably 16,000 trafficked into the USA -- and both numbers are increasing every year. (source: US gov, wikipedia)
Of course, this is illegal and hidden.
In Atlanta (GA), the average age of a sex slave is 14 years old, and 200-300 girls are estimated to "work" every day in this city (blog entry). 50% of the trafficking victims in the USA are, actually, below 18 years old.
Do you have daughters, niece , cousins who are reaching their teen years ? Think, think, think.
Thanks for reading so far - below are a few more links.
Listen: [Tom Ashbrook's On Point on Sex Slavery] (don't listen with kids around)
Watch movies? Find movies behind those links [TRADE] [Born into Brothels] ... [Human Trafficking videos on YouTube]
Read :
[NYTimes'Nicolas Krystof Page: lots of links to his articles][27 million][same blog][season of light blog]
What to do ? [43 things to do to stop human trafficking] [Look beneath the surface]
Keep informed, be outraged.
Christophe
