Help Stop Human Trafficking

People shouldn't be for sale and yet millions have been bought and sold into servitude, prostitution and forced labor. Millions of people this very day are living lives of unspeakable abuse and degradation as slaves.

Most at risk are the poor; those with little education and no opportunities, particularly girls and young women in developing nations.

Sisters and Associates of Notre Dame de Namur have joined with other religious communities and organizations committed to ending human trafficking.

Get Involved!!
Here's how you can help:

1. Educate yourself and others about trafficking. A good place to start is with the "Stop Trafficking" newsletter and organizations like International Justice Mission.
2. Buy fair trade items. Find out more about fair trade products and why they are important.
3. Pray for victims and rescuers. Share your prayers on our Prayer Circle.
4. Tutor or mentor a vulnerable girl, teen or young woman.
5. Donate to organizations that are rescuing slaves, helping former victims, prosecuting traffickers and helping to prevent trafficking.

What are You Driving Past?

Most people have heard about human trafficking by now but are unaware of how close they are to it. For example, police in the South Bay recently uncovered a neighborhood brothel. Victims have been identified as restaurant and hotel workers in Santa Clara County. The migrant labor in Salinas and Monterey counties are host to agricultural victims. But when are prostitutes and laborers victims of trafficking?

Read the full article.

Sisters' Actions Against Human Trafficking

• Provide trafficking education programs for schools, parishes and women's groups.
• Involve ourselves in trafficking legislation.
• Hold prayer services and vigils.
• Develop consumer awareness of slavery-impacted commodities.
• Request that large hotel chains sign on to the Code of Conduct that protects children from sex tourism.
• Operate a safe house on the East Coast for trafficking victims.

You may be surprised to learn...

• "Human trafficking is now the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world." (YWCA, Silicon Valley)
• "Only one out of 100 victims of trafficking is ever rescued."
  (Yuri Fedotov, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime)
• "The Internet has become the new marketplace for trafficking in children." (Love146.org)
• "Around half of the trafficking victims in the world are under the age of 18." (dosomething.org)
• The United States is ranked "very high" as a destination country for trafficked persons along with Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Thailand and Turkey. (UNODC, 2006)
• "California is a top destination for human trafficking in the U.S." (YWCA, Silicon Valley)