Obama Declares January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

All I can say is finally.

Yes, human trafficking and slavery has been getting a bit more attention lately due to different movements and films (from documentaries to fictional movies like Taken). I appreciate that. But it seems like the general public is still in denial that modern day slavery and human trafficking—human kidnapping and sale—is still very much alive and afoot. In fact, it’s the third largest industry in the world,  generating $32 billion every year with 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals trafficked into the U.S. annually alone.

In the rest of the world those numbers are much higher; most countries (161 out of 192, including the U.S.) take part in human trafficking. About 800,000 people being kidnapped and sold every year. Half of those trafficked are children, of which most are ages 12 to 14, though some are much younger. 80% of victims total are woman and children. There are approximately 27 million people working as slaves worldwide today.

Yes, that’s 27 million people—about 1 in every 250 people, easily a few dozen in your own town.

And while we see movies like Taken and think, oh no, I better not head to France—the reality is that all developed nations, including the U.S., are more likely to use slaves. Industrialized countries use about 15.5 million of world’s slave labor. Native born U.S. citizens are also trafficked into slave labor, both at home and abroad.

Victims are usually captured with the promise of a new life and job, only to find that they become slaves who work in rich people’s homes, farms, sweatshops or brothels day and night without pay and with plenty of violence. Children are simply captured—or their parents are promised a good education for them, or sell them themselves for money—and brought to other countries as slaves. Most of these victims are from Africa, India, Russia, Latin America, and Asia, though they are from other areas as well.

People have to understand that these victims are not “workers.” They do not get to leave, do not receive pay, do not have lives outside work; they are kept on the premises as slaves. Only about 30% of them receive any form of health services at all—but these are usually to treat large physical ailments to simply keep them working.

I’m so glad that President Obama is making this issue a priority. Now hopefully he’ll also act on the problem as well. To see what you can do to combat human trafficking and slavery, visit The Polaris Project.