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What You Can Do

Ways You Can Help Fight Human Trafficking

adapted from the U.S. Department of State and  World Economic Forum

 

After first learning about human trafficking, many people want to help in some way but do not know how. Here are just a few ideas for your consideration.

 

1. Learn the red flags that may indicate human trafficking and ask follow up questions so that you can help identify a potential trafficking victim. Human trafficking awareness training is available for individuals, businesses, first responders, law enforcement, and federal employees.

 

2. Call, In the United States, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at 1-888-373-7888 (24/7) to get help and connect with a service provider in your area, report a tip with information on potential human trafficking activity; or learn more by requesting training, technical assistance, or resources. Call federal law enforcement directly to report suspicious activity and get help from the Department of Homeland Securityat 1-866-347-2423 (24/7), or submit a tip online at www.ice.gov/tips, or from the U.S. Department of Justice at 1-888-428-7581 from 9:00am to 5:00pm (EST). Victims, including undocumented individuals, are eligible for services and immigration assistance.

 

3. Be a conscientious consumer. Discover your Slavery Footprint, and check out the Department of Labor’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. Encourage companies, including your own, to take steps to investigate and eliminate slavery and human trafficking in their supply chains and to publish the information for consumer awareness.

 

4. Incorporate human trafficking information into your professional associations’ conferences, trainings, manuals, and other materials as relevant [such as this article in the ABA Journal].

 

5. Join or start a grassroots anti-trafficking coalition such as Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

 

6. Meet with and/or write to your local, state, and federal government representatives to let them know that you care about combating human trafficking in your community, and ask what they are doing to address human trafficking in your area.

 

7. Distribute public awareness materials available from the Department of Health and Human Services , Department of Homeland Security, our Links page and our Resources page.

 

8. Volunteer to do victim outreach or offer your professional services to a local anti-trafficking organization such as the Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking and our member organizations.

 

9. Donate funds or needed items to an anti-trafficking organization in your area such as Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

 

10. Organize a fundraiser and donate the proceeds to an anti-trafficking organization anti-trafficking organization in your area such as Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking.

 

11. Help create Care Packs. Victims of human trafficking in Rochester are in need of basic items. Rochester Regional Coalition Against Human Trafficking provides these items in CARE Packs that are distributed by local law enforcement and outreach workers. Click here to learn how you can help.

 

12. Host an awareness event to watch and discuss a recent human trafficking documentary. On a larger scale, host a human trafficking film festival.

 

13. Encourage your local schools to partner with students and include the issue of modern day slavery in their curriculum. As a parent, educator, or school administrator, be aware of how traffickers target school-aged children.

 

14. Set up a Google alert to receive current human trafficking news.

 

15. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper about human trafficking in your community.

 

16. Start or sign a human trafficking petition.

 

17. Businesses:

  • Provide internships, job skills training, and/or jobs to trafficking survivors.

  • Inspiring Leadership: take a stand to fight trafficking.

  • Slavery-Free Supply Chains: every supplier and vendor should be required to sign a contract saying that they will not knowingly engage in labor and/or sex trafficking.

  • Training: employee training programs highlight the issue of human trafficking and empower them to report suspicious activities to management and law enforcement. Contact RRCAHT for referrals to training organizations in the Rochester, New York region.

  • Philanthropy: both management and employees can engage in philanthropic efforts to assist anti-human trafficking efforts.

  • Volunteerism: hosting corporate volunteer days or launching a company initiative personally engages employees in the fight against human trafficking.

  • Educate your customer: involve customers in this cause.

  • Public Policy Outreach: Work with government to create public-private sector initiatives around human trafficking.

  • Partnerships: Partner with both public and civil society entities to see what pressing resources are needed.

 

18. Consumers: Purchase items made by trafficking survivors such as from Fair Girls or Made by Survivors.

 

19. Students: Take action on your campus. Join or establish a university or secondary school club to raise awareness about human trafficking and initiate action throughout your local community. Consider doing one of your research papers on a topic concerning human trafficking.

 

20. Professors: Request that human trafficking be an issue included in university curriculum. Increase scholarship about human trafficking by publishing an article, teaching a class, or hosting a symposium.

 

21. Law Enforcement Officials: Join or start a local human trafficking task force. Visit our Information for the Legal & Law Enforcement Communities page.

 

22. Mental Health or Medical Providers: Extend low-cost or free services to human trafficking victims assisted by nearby anti-trafficking organizations. Train your staff on how to identify the indicators of human trafficking and assist victims. Visit our Information for Medical Professional page.

 

23. Attorneys: Look for signs of human trafficking among your clients. Offer pro-bono services to trafficking victims or anti-trafficking organizations. Learn about and offer to human trafficking victims the legal benefits for which they are eligible. Assist anti-trafficking NGOs with capacity building and legal work.

 

24. Travelers (from the Good Blog): 

  • Stay at hotels with anti-trafficking policies

  • If you have a favorite hotel that isn't implementing anti-trafficking policies, you can ask them to do so.

  • Get Your employer to buy-in

  • Learn the Red Flags

  • Keep in mind that if a person under age 18 engages in a commercial sex act, then she/he is a victim of trafficking.

  • Say Something - you don't have to be sure, that's for the authorities to figure out.

  • Spread Awareness - Use the hashtag #DoesYourHotelKnow.

 

25. Airline personnel: Flight Attendants and other airline personnel, when properly trained, are in a unique position to identify human traffickers and assist their victims. With the Blue Lightning training of the Department of Transporation, airline personnel can be the eyes in the skies that uncover this heinous crime that is hidden in plane sight. This simple computer-based training gives the proper tools to safely identify human trafficking and report it - saving millions of lives.

 

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