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Human Trafficking: You Can Help
Today I'm happy to introduce a terrific guest blogger—my friend Kim Jones, who has a passion for the issue of human trafficking. Human trafficking is one the biggest human rights issues of our day. More than 20 million people are currently enslaved. This is more than at the time of transatlantic slave trade. Women, men, girls, and boys are bought and sold throughout our world. Individuals are trafficked for forced labor, domestic work, and for sexual exploitation. Those who have been trafficked for labor or domestic work many times suffer sexual exploitation by their employers. Those at risk of trafficking are typically at the margins of society with little hope.…
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One Step to Stop Child Trafficking
Human trafficking is a problem that is hard to face. When I think about it, I feel so overwhelmed and incapable of doing anything to help. Lately, the truth and tragedy of child trafficking has been creeping into my awareness through speakers, blogs, etc. Did you know that each year nearly 2 milion children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade (stat from UNICEF via IJM) ? How can we not be talking about this and trying to do something? The question is what can we do? One answer is to sponsor children through organizations like Compassion and World Vision. This did not seem the most direct answer at first to…
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China Dolls and Other Trafficked Humans
I don’t know about you, but in the past when I’ve heard the term “Human Trafficking,” I’ve pictured scenes from the excellent documentary, “Born into Brothels,” (http://www.moviefone.com/movie/born-into-brothels/19335/synopsis) and assumed the problem started and ended in places like Calcutta—far from my own country’s borders. Yet the USA and other relatively wealthy countries are destinations—prime destinations—for not just a few, but for thousands of men, women, and children trafficked primarily from Thailand, Mexico, Guatemala, Philippines, and China. My own home state of Texas has the highest human-trafficking-arrest rate of any of the American states. And while sex exploitation is often involved, people often also get trafficked for labor exploitation. What exactly is human…
