Advocacy

Every so often, an opportunity comes along to change the course of history. And if you’re reading this, that moment is now.

Our government is currently reviewing 2 pieces of legislation that if passed will literally be the beginning of a Revolution to end modern day slavery as we know it. It is estimated that 300,000 children in the U.S. are forced into prostitution and worldwide there are 27 million slaves.

Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. It is one of the fastest-growing, and the second largest, criminal enterprise in the world. Human trafficking generates an estimated profit of $32 billion per year, worldwide.

If you care about this, STOP what you are doing right now and take 30 seconds to tell Senator Patrick Leahy how important it is to you!

Because Senator Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee we need everyone from all across the country to contact him ! BUT DON’T STOP YET, scroll down further to see if your state is listed, if it is we need you to just make one more phone call ! Imagine that in only 30 seconds you can impact children who are victims of child sex trafficking.

TVPRA (Trafficking Victims Protection Re-Authorization Act) and DMST (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrance and Victims Support Act) are the 2 pieces of legislation that if passed will be a milestone in our countries fight of human trafficking.

Both pieces of legislation are in danger and these children desperately need your help !

One of the provisions of DMST was recently rolled into TVPRA (the Block grant program of DMST), but it was only one part. They lowered the grant from 14 million to 8 million, AND critical aspects of DMST were left out. In addition, many advocates have thought the re-authorization of TVPRA was a shoe in. But it’s not. We need your voice. You can read all of S.596 here. And read S.1301 also.

Jesse Eaves, Policy Advisor for World Vision’s Children in Crisis program, stresses the extreme importance of the bill to anti-trafficking efforts:

“The Trafficking Victims Protection Act is hugely influential in giving other countries the support they need to step up their fight against trafficking…It is the best diplomatic tool we have, and if it is not renewed, the United States’ fight against trafficking will end on October 1.” (Health News)

Why is DMST so important? It would make the following provisions:

  1. Changes be made to the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database that will help to cross reference missing children with children who are potential trafficking victims.
  2. A child under the age of 18 would be required to be treated as a victim and not as a criminal. Currently in most states if a child is arrested on prostitution charges, even if that child is a victim of child sex trafficking, they are treated as a criminal.
  3. It makes numerous provisions to enhance both state and local efforts to combat trafficking in persons.
  4. Demands stricter reporting requirements from state child welfare agencies.
  5. Provides significantly greater protection for child trafficking victims and survivors.
  6. Requires greater penalties and sentencing for the perpetrators, as well as minimum penalties for child pornographers.
  7. 14 million in grants to organizations and law enforcement helping child trafficking victims (current amount in TVPRA has been lowered to 8 million)

The first thing we need people to do is contact the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Chairman. Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont.  Yes, you can actually call these guys. One of their staff members will pick up and we just need you to tell them one thing. It will just take 30 seconds of your time. Think about it. In 30 seconds you can help us to get one step closer to ending modern day slavery. You can email him by clicking on his name above, but what we REALLY need you to do is call his office. And then we need you to tell EVERYONE you know to please do the same.

Now after you make that call, if you live in any of the following states, we need you to make just one more call. The following states have a Senator who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. These guys are the main decision makers, so it’s crucial we contact them!

Wisconsin, California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Delaware, Connecticut, Iowa, Utah, Arizona, Alabama, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.  Just click on the name of your state for a sample call script. Share the script link with EVERYONE you know!

TOGETHER we can END child sex trafficking.

A HUGE thank you to our friends at Polaris Project and Shared Hope International for helping us strategize and put all this information together. Without their guidance we could not have done it !