In 2013, The United Nations designated July 30th as World Day Against Trafficking in Persons to raise awareness and work toward preventing human trafficking. COVID-19 has impacted human trafficking. Children are more vulnerable at this time to online exploitation. School closures mean that many children no longer have a safe environment and are often confined to homes with abusive relatives which puts them in danger of becoming victims of live-stream sex abuse and other forms of cybersex trafficking. Predators are taking advantage of the fact that children are spending more unsupervised time online and online grooming is growing.
What can you do?
One thing you can do is join the US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking and sign on to their USCSAHT Letter to Attorney General Barr asking him to fund and enforce the Protect Our Children Act of 2008 to protect children from online sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Spend some time on the US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking and Polaris Project websites to learn more about trafficking, how to recognize it, and then report anything that may seem suspicious to the National Trafficking Hotline at 888-3737-888.
Thank you for helping to spread information about trafficking and ways in which we can all work to recognize and fight against it
