HUMAN TRAFFICKING: An Education and Action Resource June 2007

WELCOME TO THE USE OF THIS RESOURCE.

The trafficking of human beings—especially women and girls—is a major problem in the United States and throughout the world. Trafficking is the modern-day form of slavery. Trafficking is a major human rights crisis! Nearly 200,000 people in the United States live enslaved and 17,500 new victims are trafficked across our borders yearly.1

We in CWU need to understand the magnitude of this crisis. “The commerce in human beings today rivals drug trafficking and the illegal arms trade for the top criminal activity on the planet.”2 The slave-trade in trafficking is on the rise in the U.S., especially with young, teenage girls.

We in CWU have agreed to address the plight of trafficked persons and to work to eliminate the trafficking of children for sexual purposes.3

We need to act. We must join the new abolitionist movement in the United States. This resource provides information on the trafficking movement. Want to know what is happening and what to do? Read on! You’ll find articles written by activists who helped to start the movement, a list of proposed actions, and a list of resources.

Very special thanks for this RESOURCE goes to Una Stevenson, Chair of the Action Team on Trafficking and Abuse of Children and a member of the CWU Action/Global Concerns Committee. Thanks also to all the contributors, Una’s friends, who are dedicated leaders in the anti-trafficking network in the U.S. and worldwide, and to Patricia Burkhardt, CWU staff.

It is very important that all of us in CWU not only understand this tragic situation, but act to control and stop it! You are urged to involve your own denomination.

Peace,
Anne H. Griffis, Chair
National Action/Global Concerns Committee

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     1 See article in this CWU Resource by Richard J. Estes and Neil Alan Weiner, and refer to their study “The Commercial Exploitation of Children in the United States, Canada and Mexico,” University of Pennsylvania, September 2001.
     2 Not For Sale, The Return of the Global Slave Trade-and How We can Fight It, David Batstone, 2007, p. 3
     3 Refer to CWU Social Policy Book 1941-2004; see copies of resolutions in this Resource.