Jonathan D. Blundell

Jan. 11 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Modern day slavery exists in the world today for 27 million held in some form of captivity. 80% of them are women; 50% are underage children and 70% of the females are trafficked for sexual exploitation purposes.

These are not prostitutes. These are women and girls that are being prostituted.

According to the Trafficking in Persons Report, every year:

• 200,000 American children are at risk for trafficking into the sex industry
• 14,500-17,500 people are trafficked into the United States
• 5,000-7,000 people are trafficked into the United States from East Asia and the Pacific
• 3,500-5,500 people are trafficked into the United States from each of the following regions: Latin America, Europe, and Eurasia

On Jan. 12, 2010 a massive earthquake destroyed much of Haiti. Since the earthquake it’s estimated that more than 2,000 Haitian children have been sold into slavery and trafficked to other countries.

Each year, 800,000 people become human trafficking victims and are transported across international borders. According to the Texas Attorney General, 20 percent of those people (or 160,000 people) pass through Texas.

Closer to home, Irving Police busted a man earlier this month for trafficking children through Dallas.

Modern slavery is alive and all around us.

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.” – William Willberforce

Find out more…

• 11 things you can do to raise awareness and end human trafficking
• Support Hope of Texas here in our own state
• Join with other national and international organizations
• Follow @roblove146, @not_for_sale, @just4one, @endingslavery on Twitter
• Read Not For Sale (or listen to the audio version like I did)
• Listen to Amanda Kloer share her story on the something beautiful podcast

And finally, I challenge you to do at least 1 thing today to help raise awareness. Whether it’s a Facebook status update, changing your online avatar, a Twitter update, sharing a link to this post or one of the great resources listed here… do something.