11 January, 2010 | Leave a Comment
[image from Helen Bamber Foundation]
Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Those of you who read this blog know that this topic is very dear to me. The primary victims of trafficking are women and children. This is a form of modern-day slavery that is occurring all around us, whether we choose to see it or not.
Please watch this short film called The Journey, produced by Richard Jobson and Emma Thompson. [Warning: This video contains sexual and violent imagery that is disturbing.] In an unforgettable way, The Journey shows how women, such as from Eastern Europe, are trafficked into the UK to work as sex slaves in brothels, where they are repeatedly raped each day by “customers.” This is happening across Europe and North America – right in our own backyards. It cannot be ignored.
Here is more information about The Journey from the Helen Bamber Foundation.
While I focus primarily on sex trafficking in my writing and activism, trafficking manifests itself in many other ways, from children being forced into domestic servitude to adults working in a variety of industries as virtual slaves. Trafficking happens both domestically and internationally. There is no need to cross int’l borders – a person can be trafficked in her own country, such as into the commercial sex industry or to work in a sweat shop. Change.org offers a wealth of information on all forms of trafficking, including these ten videos to watch online right now.
Learning about trafficking can make one feel completely hopeless, but even just a small donation or volunteer work with an organization can make a difference.
Here are links to other organizations that work on this issue, but this is just a small sampling. Please feel free to share more links in the comments if you have them:
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women
GEMS [topic of a previous post]
Stop Sex Trafficking [with documentary]
Anglofille said @ 3:43 pm | feminism | 2 Comments
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Wow – that short film is very hard hitting. Utterly upsetting but it does get the message across.
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It’s very difficult to watch and it stays with you afterwards. I think there are limited ways to make people aware of the horror of sex trafficking, so something brutal like this works. And it’s not just foreign women who are being forced into sexual slavery. Plenty of women are pimped and forced into prostitution just like this in their own countries.
