human trafficking

Help Pass the International Violence Against Women Act

By sarajean on 2/6/10 11:43pm
Add Comment

In college, I was very much into activism against violence against women. (I still am, only now I’m so domesticated that my presence is largely in the form of emails and phone calls rather than marches and protests.) Of all of the causes that I support and believe in, this has been the closest to my heart since I read about female genital mutilation in Marie Claire while I was in high school.

For years, it was my personal mission to inform people about young girls and teens having their clitorises cut off and sewn shut so that only a small opening was left for urination, sex, and childbirth (all made painful from the process)—an opening that usually had to be re-sewn several times because of these acts—an opening that was inflicted on over 130 million women and girls worldwide, from most continents and many, many countries, including our own.

Read more >

Obama Declares January National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month

By sarajean on 1/14/10 6:37pm
Add Comment

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.

Read more >