Human Trafficking: A Cause to Be Passionate About

These days, it’s easy to watch the news and get depressed. War, natural disasters, and human rights abuses abound every time you turn on the TV, and its easy to just tune out all of the suffering going on around you, head to an air-conditioned office and surround yourself with comfortingly well-dressed people whose biggest problem is having too much money and not enough time to spend it.

But still, there is that nagging feeling. “Maybe I could be doing more to get involved in my community, or use my skills to help people.” When you are so busy at work, it’s hard to identify the steps necessary to get involved with a cause you believe in. But doing so can help you add meaning to your life, gain valuable experience in a sector other than the one you work in, and develop a sense of much needed perspective in the world of finance.

One of the causes I have been involved with over the years is the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation and forced labor. When I lived and worked in Nepal, I helped design anti-trafficking programs for women and girls at risk of sexual exploitation, and implemented rehabilitation and reintegration programs for trafficked girls who had been rescued. Though I have been back in the US for five years, I have tried to stay involved in this cause by attending events, volunteering for pro bono projects, joining fundraising committees and keeping in touch with activists.

Though this problem might sound remote and distant, it is a global reality that impacts millions of women and girls every year. According to the US State Department’s 2007 Report on Trafficking in Persons, “Annually … approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include millions trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80 percent of transnational victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors.”

Trafficking of women and girls is a form of modern day slavery and one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time. I happens on every continent, including in the US and Europe. Sex trafficking can take many forms, including kidnapping women and girls and forcing them into sexual slavery, selling children for labor or prostitution, or using bait and switch tactics like promising poor young women jobs in foreign countries, only to confiscate their travel documents, deceive them about their working conditions, and force them to labor without pay. What these scenarios all have in common is using some form of force, fraud or coercion to move human beings across borders for purposes of exploitation.

But before this article starts to sound like one of those special reports on CNN that makes your eyes glaze over … wait! There is something you can do to connect yourself to this web of humanity and get involved in this cause by learning more about it.

As with any cause, educating yourself about it is the first step to getting involved. Here are a few ideas to help you get started:

• Right now, there are several excellent movies out in theaters that draw attention to the issue of human trafficking. Trade, a film starring Academy-award winner Kevin Kline, tells the poignant story of a girl who is kidnapped in Mexico and brought to the US for auction on a secret website for pedophiles. Her brother follows her to the US in a torturous journey in hopes of saving her life. This film debuted on September 19 at an unusual event at the UN designed to raise awareness about trafficking, and is still showing in theaters around the country.
• Holly, another recent film about sex trafficking directed by Ron Livingston (aka Berger on Sex and the City) takes on the subject of sex trafficking in Cambodia. Hear the director talk about his film here.
• Additionally, you can visit some excellent sites that provide information about trafficking and opportunities for getting involved in the cause, like Equality NOW and the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW).
  · Finally, for those of you who want to dive right in, here’s your chance. There is an interesting anti-trafficking event coming up in New York next week.

The U.S. National Committee for UNIFEM, Metro NY Chapter and the Women’s Rights Committee and Foreign and International Law Committee of The New York County Lawyers’ Association invite you to hear Ambassador Mark Lagon, Director, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, U.S. Department of State on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, at the New York County Lawyers’ Association, located at 14 Vesey Street in New York. There will be a reception from 5:30-6:00 pm and remarks and discussion from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. To R.S.V.P. to this event, call Aurora Mendez, 212-267-6646 ext.200 or amendez@nycla.org

So, whether the prevention of trafficking of women and girls is a subject you are interested in, or there is another cause you have in mind, don’t put it off. Whether the cause is stopping global warming, championing civil rights, rescuing animals from cruelty, advocating for the right to life or the right to choice, or supporting cancer research, there is a cause for everyone to get involved in that can add richness and texture to your life and help you give back to people in need. Take action. In addition to the good you can do for others, you might be surprised at how it changes you.