Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry according to the latest United Nations Trafficking In Persons (TIP Report). It is the fastest growing crime in the world today of Child Trafficking or the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). Each year, millions of men, women, and children endure the evil of sex trafficking, exploitation, and slavery. Current estimates show 5 million women and children are victims of sex trafficking.
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide, including right here in the United States. It can happen in any community, and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality. Traffickers might use violence, manipulation, or false promises of well-paying jobs or romantic relationships to lure victims into trafficking situations.
Language barriers, fear of their traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement frequently keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime.
The effects of trafficking are horrendous, and the lifelong impact can be debilitating, leaving its victims to struggle with shame, fear, hopelessness, disease, drug addiction, and, in the worst cases, death.
Mission: RescueLIFE, the charity StorageGives has chosen to partner with, was initiated in 2008 to combat the evil of human trafficking.
RescueLIFE boldly seeks to reach, rescue, and restore women and children from modern-day slavery by combating the horrors of the sex industry through a threefold approach.
REACH children living in at-risk villages where human traffickers are known to target impoverished children. The outreach provides education about the reality of human trafficking so that families are aware of the tactics of traffickers. Mission teams also provide relief and assistance within the village to prevent children from being sent away to work.
RESCUE as many women and children as possible from the sex industry itself. Through intervention, RescueLIFE rescues children, teens, and women from this lifestyle they were forced into and held captive by, freeing them to rebuild their lives.
RESTORE the hearts, minds, and bodies of those who escaped the sex industry, providing an environment where they can safely be restored.
RescueLIFE actively works with like-minded organizations in the relevant geographic locations to help children and young adults leave commercial sexual exploitation, freeing them from a life of slavery and bondage. The charity partners with the police, task forces, prosecutors, and NGOs to find and rescue captive children throughout the world and bring their captors to justice.
The organization is committed to seeing those freed from sexual exploitation healed emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Not only do they assist, but they also partner with safe houses and rehabilitation professionals to ensure the safety and care for these precious women and children as they walk the road of healing.
In the future, StorageGives will be working with the organization JOY International as well. JOY International is dedicated to the rescue, restoration, and reintegration of children, teens, and young adults affected by trafficking and the prevention of human trafficking, especially the trafficking of children, worldwide. The vision of the organization is to see each captive set free from a life of slavery to experience the true joy of reaching their greatest potential in every area of life.
JOY International aims for three goals when it comes to rescuing others in trafficking situations: rescue, restoration, and prevention.
The objective is to see each child and adult who survives the trafficking industry be fully reintegrated back into their community and, when possible, restored to their families. Reintegration can only take place when complete healing in safe homes happens first. Partner safe homes work to educate and train survivors in relevant schooling and job placement courses, preparing them to integrate back into society as healthy, educated, and trained adults when the time comes. Reintegration into families will only happen if the families can prove that they are willing and able to provide for the ongoing safety and care of the child, maintaining consistent contact with social workers to ensure the child’s wellbeing.
JOY International also sponsors several young women’s continuing education costs, providing them an opportunity to attend universities. Equipping survivors with the necessary education and training to support themselves can help end the cycle of poverty that drives trafficking.
Demand, poverty, and lack of education are three of the driving forces behind the sexual exploitation of children around the world. It is important to address these needs to help ease the burden of poverty on families around the world.