January is human trafficking awareness month and January 11 is human trafficking awareness day. The year 2014 marks the 151th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Abraham Lincoln, upon signing the Emancipation Proclamation said, “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper.” Because of the groundbreaking work of our ancestors, slavery was outlawed in the United States. However the legacies of chattel slavery continue to haunt our society even as we turn to face a new form of slavery: human trafficking.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Human Trafficking Roundtable works to equip Presbyterians to learn about and work against human trafficking. The PC(USA) partners with several organizations in our work against modern slavery and we approach our work from a human rights based perspective.
Human trafficking happens in every state across the United States and around the world. Major forms of human trafficking include forced labor, sex trafficking, bonded labor, debt bondage among migrant laborers, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor and child soldiers. So often, our actions and consumption lend themselves to modern slavery. You can find out your Slavery Footprint and learn ways to decrease it.
To report a suspected case of human trafficking, please call the National Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
If your congregation is interested in working with the human trafficking roundtable, please email the Roundtable.
Here are some links to PC(USA) supported anti-trafficking organizations/ activities:
ECPAT USA and the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking (UN GIFT)
Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking
May God who created all for good, Christ who liberated all, and the Holy Spirit who empowers and guides us into all truth overshadow and keep you in God’s glory, wisdom, and power now and forevermore. Amen.