Organization Takes Action Against Human Trafficking

Founded in 1997, IJM began operations after a group of human rights professionals, lawyers and public officials launched an extensive study of the injustices witnessed by overseas missionaries and relief and development workers. This study uncovered a nearly unanimous awareness of abuses of power by police and other authorities in the communities where they served. Without the resources or expertise to confront the abuse and to bring rescue to the victims, these overseas workers required the assistance of trained public justice professionals.

IJM was established to help fill this void, acting as an organization that stands in the gap for victims when they are left without an advocate. IJM staff members receive case referrals from, and work in conjunction with, other non-governmental organizations and casework alliances abroad. In addition to raise awareness they have spawned several campus chaters all over the nation at our institutions of Higher Education.

At the University of Northern Colorado there is a campus chapter of this organization and I interviewed one of their members, Bethany H. IJM to her was really a way to help those enslaved by other men and identify with her Christian faith. It was also a community project outside of the community of Greeley Colorado or even UNC but the community of humanity. With meetings, rallys, and fund raising they are working hard to do something the governments of developed countries who lead in people purloined and trafficked.....actually curing the disease instead of treating the symptoms.

There have been and continue to be articles, television shows, and books about this, yet some of us can't help but to notice that the countries responsibly for most of the human trafficking are those countries best able to put a stop to it.

http://www.gvnet.com/humantrafficking/USA.htm Gives a country by country report and on the United States they say, "The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates that 50,000 people are trafficked into or transited through the U.S.A. annually as sex slaves, domestics, garment, and agricultural slaves.

The U.S. Government (USG) in 2005 advanced an aggressive anti-trafficking campaign to address trafficking crimes and victims identified in the United States. This coordinated effort includes several federal agencies and approximately $25 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 for domestic programs to boost anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts, identify and protect victims of trafficking, and raise awareness of trafficking as a means of preventing new incidents.

The Department of Defense amended its Manual for Courts Martial in October 2005, as a preventative measure under the Government's "zero tolerance" policy on human trafficking. Now, patronizing a prostitute is a chargeable offense under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice. DOD has also developed a trafficking awareness program to draw attention to the criminality and human consequences of trafficking in persons. The program will be mandatory for all military members and DOD civilians by the end of the year.

While significant progress has been made, the U.S. Government's efforts to address trafficking within the borders of the United States still need improvement. Greater efforts should be made to ensure suspected trafficking victims have time to be counseled, and to provide trafficking information to law enforcement authorities. Victim protection services for U.S. citizen trafficking victims, particularly those who are minors, should be more consistent across the country. Lastly, like most other countries, the USG must continue its efforts to reduce the gap between estimated TIP victims and those who step forward to help in prosecutions and receive services. -- Adapted fromU.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2006 "

Of Great Britain, "The United Kingdom is primarily a destination country for trafficked women, children, and men from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and East Asia for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some victims are trafficked through the U.K. to Western Europe. It is estimated that a number of the foreign nationals in prostitution in London's brothels, saunas, and massage parlors are trafficking victims. NGOs report a problem of children trafficked into domestic servitude, particularly from West Africa.

The two countries with the greatest power to put a stop to such a thing have the worst problem with it. Perhaps leaving the War on Drugs or social programs alone and solving the regular and large-scale exploitation of the least among can take national priority. It is shameful that in the two wealthiest and developed countries in the world, their own citizenry and that of others can be stolen away and exploited by other people and no one is really lifting a finger to stop it. I have to applaud IJM for getting those people back and restoring them to their rightful place as free people in the human community and I would call out to the United States government and that of Great Britain as well to do what they can (as they are best able) to stop this growing epidemic.