CUA Joins the Fight Against Human Trafficking
By Lauren Werling
Professor Maryann Love’s Politics class on global issues is teaming up to raise awareness about modern slavery including human trafficking across the United States and is exploring ways that elected officials, policymakers, law enforcement, activists and survivors can fight back.
Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in world. It is estimated that human trafficking generates over $150 billion in profits annually. Traffickers reap billions in profits by using force, fraud or coercion to rob victims of their freedom through labor or commercial sex. While experts estimate that there are a minimum of approximately 5,100 to 60,500 people trafficked into and within the United States each year, there are thousands of United States citizens trafficked within our borders, including an estimated 100,000-300,000 American children who are prostituted within the United States each year.
The Facebook group CUA Against Human Trafficking is working hard to promote this issue and advocate for change within the United States Congress. They are publishing reports, articles, petitions and documentaries on human trafficking in all of its forms. The group is also following many investigative stories of modern-day slavery from across five continents as well as helping to change laws and corporate policies.
One recent piece of legislation that has been promoted in the United States Congress, H.R.350 (Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2015) was passed in the House of Representative in January of 2015. This act is aimed to direct the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, to identify strategies to prevent children from becoming victims of trafficking, to review trafficking prevention efforts, and to protect and assist in the recovery of victims of trafficking.
For more information on how you can follow along with this issue and get your legislators involved please visit CUA Against Human Trafficking on Facebook.
