A Human Trafficking Primer: Selected Resources For Your Social Distance Learning
So much has changed in a short amount of time. One month ago, the pockets of COVID-19 started to drastically expand, but if we really understood this coronavirus back then, and had our nation’s leaders been transparent with us back in January, we may not have been surprised when things started escalating quickly, and when the stay at home orders started to be issued state by state. Now, we’re all adjusting to this new, and hopefully temporary, reality, consisting of working from home (if you’re fortunate enough to have a job that allows that) and distance learning for all students, pre-K through college. We will get through this situation together, and we will become stronger as a result of it. If we could hope for one positive outcome, it would be that we have a better appreciation for the things that matter, like ensuring that everybody has access to the same basic human rights and practicing empathy and compassion on a regular basis.
Our youth group, Teens Stand Against Trafficking, was planning to have a community awareness event in Troy this Spring, but we have quickly shifted gears, and now both our Troy and our Chicago groups have virtual training presentations scheduled for the month of April. For those new teens who will be joining us going forward on our journey for social justice, and for anybody else who wants to learn more about human trafficking, aka modern day slavery, we put together this list of select resources. Set aside some time to understand the issue, learn what a few of the large anti-trafficking organizations are doing, pick a book to read, and watch one of the documentaries.
Background
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
National Human Trafficking Hotline
Shared Hope International State Report Cards
Walk Free’s Global Slavery Index
Anti-Trafficking Nonprofits
A21
Anti-Slavery International
Free The Slaves
International Justice Mission
Not For Sale
Polaris
Shared Hope International
The Joy Smith Foundation (Canada)
Unseen (UK)
Books
A Crime So Monstrous, E. Benjamin Skinner
Disposable People, Kevin Bales
Girls Like Us, Rachel Lloyd
Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn
Not For Sale, David Batstone
The Locust Effect, Gary Haugen
The Slave Across the Street, Theresa Flores
Walking Prey, Holly Austin Smith
Movies/Documentaries
The Dark Side of Chocolate (2010)
Not My Life (2011)
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (2011)
Sold (2014)
I Am Jane Doe (2017)
In Plain Sight (2018)
The Ghost Fleet (2019)
CNN Freedom Project (multiple stories and videos)
We will work on creating a new Resources page where we will maintain this list. If you have suggestions for additions, please let us know by emailing us at info@freetorunfoundation.org.