Obama declares January 'National Human Trafficking Prevention Month'
One of the first and biggest obstacles to overcoming modern slavery is the lack of public awareness and outcry. If we found out there were people being kept as slaves in our own hometown, shouldn't we all drop everything to march in the streets and rush to rescue those people? Oh, wait... there are slaves in many of our hometowns. There are children working as slaves in factories and quarries and brothels and private homes and begging in the streets all over this global village - in many cases, these slaves are right out in the open for anyone to see. So where is the public outcry? Thanks to many heroic people around the world who have dropped everything else they were doing to respond to the emergency of slavery, the tide is beginning to turn. President Obama has just declared January to be 'National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month'
According to Ambassador Lou DeBaca, who heads up the State Department Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, "2010 will mark the 10th year since the promulgation of the United Nation’s Palermo Protocol and the signing of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by President Clinton. In that time, we have made measured progress and forged strong partnerships to combat trafficking in persons both abroad and here in the United States. I look forward to our continued partnership to find new ways, new resources, and new partners to fight modern slavery.
To kick-off the New Year, President Barack Obama announced January 2010 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating in the annual celebration of National Freedom Day on February 1. Under President Obama’s leadership and through greater cooperation we can all work together to eradicate modern slavery from every community, culture, and country... Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out against human trafficking on December 2, 2009, the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, stating, “Modern slavery is a global phenomenon and must be addressed with global partnerships between governments, non-governmental organizations, and civil society. Through new partnerships, the United States and the international community will work to rescue and serve survivors, bring traffickers to justice, and create a world where every person has the freedom and opportunity to fulfill his or her God-given potential.”
When I first started working in the anti-trafficking field seven years ago, many people still were not even familiar with the term 'human trafficking'. They would often ask me 'Do you mean drug trafficking?', or 'People who have been in traffic accidents?', (I'm serious! People really said that) 'Slavery? You must be a historian'. Sadly, slavery is far from history. But we are making progress. Popular media has made a huge impact, with films such as Lifetime's Human Trafficking, and the rockumentary Call+Response,
