5 Nonprofits Working to End Modern Day Slavery
Image Credit: Pixabay, StevePB
In today’s world, many of us are quick to assume that the battle on slavery is over when in fact, the number of people in bondage to slavery has totaled to its highest in history with an estimated 36 million men, women, and children enslaved. The highest area of enslavement is with human trafficking.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, human trafficking is “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion... for the purpose of exploitation.”
In June of 2016, the US states department released its annual Trafficking In Persons Report, revealing that only 14% of the world fully complies to the standards set by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which made sex trafficking a violation of federal law back in 2000. Thailand, Malaysia and Russia were only a few of the many countries on high alert.
The average ages of a trafficking victim are 12-14 years old, and 80% of trafficking victims are females. Only 1-2% of victims are ever rescued. With such a prevalent and serious issue at hand, the main fight against sex trafficking has been to localize numbers and fight from within with great determination to educate, rescue, and prevent sex trafficking from expanding any further. Below, I’ve listed 5 non-profits working across the world to do just that.
1. The A21 Campaign
Where: California, Greece, South Carolina, South Africa, Bulgaria, Norway, Ukraine, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Australia
Established in 2008, the A21 Campaign, which stands for Abolishing Injustice in the 21st Century, opened its first survivors of human trafficking shelter in Thessaloniki, Greece. In over seven years, they have expanded to nine countries, where they passionately focus on prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership to aid in abolishing this injustice. The A21 Campaign will hold its second #Walkforfreedom, a silent walk to protest modern day slavery, on October 14, 2017.
2. Not For sale
Where: United States, Netherlands, Peru, Romania, and Thailand
Based in San Francisco, Not For Sale originated when founder, Dave Batstone, realized his favorite Bay Area restaurant was a local human trafficking ring of Indian girls. He wrote a book that later birthed the organization, in which he focuses on providing survivors and at-risk communities with safety and stability, empowering them by teaching life skills and job training, and creating sustainable futures with dignified work. Currently, the organization is challenging many to a Not For Sale Throwdown, “a pledge to work for free for a day so others can be free forever,” by donating an average day’s pay of $250.
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Wellspring living combats local sex trafficking by offering several restoration programs ranging from their Wellspring Living for girls ages 12-17, and Independent Living Program for ages 18-25. Both programs offer housing and focus on therapy, education, and life skills training. In 2014, Wellspring Living partnered with the YMCA and Randstad US to create the Empowered Living Academy, a program structured to bring hope to young women by offering such programs like: GED, health, and career readiness classes. The non-profit is scheduled to hold a Wellspring Living 2017 Gala on September 24, 2017, showcasing art to express survivors’ stories of healing.
4. Love 146
Where: Asia, United Kingdom, and the US
This nonprofit was founded off of the experience of a real-life undercover story in a Southeast Asian child brothel. Love146 honors, through its name, a brave girl they encountered that night who was labeled as #146. Although the brothel would be shut down, the girl was never found. However, the organization carries on her number to represent the millions still enslaved. Love146 focuses on educating law enforcement and practitioners, along with preventative education and survivor care, which offers homes in the Philippines for boys and girls recovering from exploitation.
5. Prerana
Where: India
Beginning in 1988, Prerana works to end the vicious cycle of the red light district. Best known for their “Prerana Approach,” which centers on three methods for successfully eliminating second generation trafficking into prostitution in India, the organization uses methods of the Educational Support Program, the Institutional Placement Program, a Night Care Center, Anti-Trafficking Center, and Post-Rescue Operations.