This document discusses the issue of modern-day human trafficking and slavery. It notes that there are an estimated 27 million people currently enslaved worldwide, more than at any other time in history. Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry that exploits victims for forced labor, sex work, and other forms of exploitation. While trafficking occurs all over the world, the document outlines that it is a particular problem in the United States, with over 100,000 women and children trafficked into the country each year. Steps that individuals and organizations can take to fight human trafficking are presented.
We did not collaborate with Not For Sale in the practical sensePractical sense: using supplies, using an office as a “home base,” completing specified tasks with an explicit deadline, directly benefiting the specific organizationWe had very little communication with Not For Sale representatives throughout the project (only Tony)Their headquarters are in Half Moon Bay, California Tony was the liaison between us and Not For Sale, but he was only on Grounds every Friday- we had to figure out a way to adhere to the overall aims of Not For Sale without working directly with the organization We created a “cell” under the umbrella of Not For SaleUsed our own resources to further the mission of the larger organizationCreated a local sub-movement within the UVA community Project aims that reflected the larger goals of Not For SaleAlthough we only met with Tony once directly, he provided us with some valuable starting points for a very large projectTony gave us some goals that reflected two of the overall goals of Not For Sale (www.notforsalecampaign.org)1. Education and awareness- creating “open source activism” (www.notforsalecampaign.org)“we need to shift to a paradigm that recognizes the possibility of slavery in order to be able to identify it”- we need to uncover human trafficking and bring it into the collective consciousness of our society- we can’t afford to keep the fact that 27 million people today are enslaved hiddenSo how could we uncover facts, statistics, and stories?Tony wanted us to conduct research on the human trafficking movement by interviewing various individuals involved in different sectors of the movement itself- former victims, local law enforcement officials, workers for Non-Profits such as Polaris Project, elected officialsHe also wanted us to learn more about the local impact of human trafficking through investigating court cases and other materials that could help us understand the human trafficking going on in our own backyardThe reports were to be written in newspaper article format and actually submitted to various local newspapers (such as The Hook, the Cville, the Daily Progress, and the Cav Daily) in the hopes that they would be published and readers would be educated about human trafficking globally and locally- what it looks like, why it exists and in what forms, and what individuals not directly involved in the movement can do to end modern-day slavery locally and internationally These reports were also designed to attract readers to the Human Trafficking Movement and provide them with resources (websites, organizations, statistics) to help them get involved- educating their peers, donating money to specific non-profits, attending awareness-raising events2. Recruiting “modern-day abolitionists” (www.notforsalecampaign.org)Tony also wanted us to somehow involve the UVA community in the fight to end modern-slaveryHe said we could conduct awareness-raising events such as a conference or other UVA-wide event to educate our community and recruit members for a UVA CIO that would be formedHe suggested we form a UVA CIO dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking locally and internationally, as well as funding for non-profits such as Not For SaleThe goal: educate members of the University community who may know next to nothing about modern-day slavery in the hopes that they will be moved to join the campaign to end human trafficking as well- recruiting “modern-day abolitionists” through education
Unified under the same aimsReiterate- we may have acted independently but we want the same things as the larger organization- we are passionate students who chose this project because something about Tony’s presentation touched us and provoked us to actSpread awareness and educate the publicRecruit activists to join the movementWe are the STUDENTS Not For Sale is dedicated to reaching out to- we employed “smart activism”coined by Jeffrey Brand (Dean at the University of San Francisco School of Law, on the board of Not For Sale)use the education we gain from the experience to teach othersuse our specific fields of interest to learn more about human traffickinglook for connections between issues (ACE and class work)flexible, creative, make up our own rules Reaching out to the UVA/Charlottesville Community: An “insider’s perspective”We were at an advantage in targeting the UVA and Charlottesville community because we live hereWe are students at UVA- we know the process of forming a CIO, we know the difficulties in organizing events on our Grounds, we know from experience what marketing techniques work best to attract attentionWe are residents of Charlottesville- we know who our local elected officials are, we know local organizations that may be involved in the human trafficking movement (SARA, IRC), we know local newspapers whose editors we can contactIt is a lot easier for us to start our own sub-movement than for a representative from Not For Sale to try to start one- we have an “insider’s perspective” and “insider experiences” with local social activismIt helps to know your “audience” when trying to market and research a social movement- you will encounter specific obstacles and need to know specific contacts to further your goals A cost-free initiativeWe worked with our own resources to learn about and spread awareness of human trafficking- we did not rely on any funding from Not For SaleThus, our work was a “cost-free initiative” for Not For SaleThey did not have to allocate any funding to usWe could further their goals and aims without hindering their ongoing projects by taking funding or other resources awayMost of the work we did required little to no money- interviews, research, putting together a presentationWe only had to fund a little- transportation to and from the Walk to End Modern Slavery, printing the newspaper articles for the classThis is one of the benefits of operating independently as a sub-movement under the umbrella organization- we can help them the way a program working in conjunction with the larger organization can, but without the allocation of money to our projects