How You Can Help End Human Trafficking
“THE UNSEEN” WORLDWIDE
In 2012, Charity was asked to do research for a ministry dedicated to ending the scourge of human trafficking and educating the public. The facts she found were horrendous and wouldn’t let her rest. For example, human trafficking includes forced sex, forced labor, both, or the sale of organs on the black market, with the sex trade being by far the largest part. The average age of the victims is a mere 13. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 199,000 instances of trafficking occur each year, according to WorldPopulationReview.com. Worldwide, human trafficking rivals drug trafficking as the world’s leading crime, with $32 billion in revenue. The International Labour Organization says there are more than 40 million victims, 25 million of whom are used in the sex industry.
Charity says she was compelled to write a novel about the issue in 2016 because all the statistics left her feeling paralyzed, and rarely explained how to change things. “This book came from a passion to inspire more people to understand there is hope in ending human trafficking in our lifetime. The lives entangled by it are worth speaking for – they are The Unseen,” she writes. The book weaves together the stories of three unrelated people whose lives become deeply affected by the sex trade, and eventually, one another. In stark contrast to the hopelessness of cold data, the stories end redemptively. Though they are fictional, Charity says they are based on real people and situations she has encountered.
PORN IS THE FUEL
Enough.org, and many other websites, say worldwide porn revenue may be as much as
$97 billion, with the U.S. accounting for 13 billion. According to medium.com, the porn industry in the U.S. makes more money than the MLB, NFL and the NBA combined. Charity’s research showed that pornography use worldwide is like gasoline in the engine of sex trafficking. The reason porn feeds into trafficking, she says, is the effect it has on the brain, actually changing the brain and forming new neural pathways. FightTheNewDrug.org states, “Like other addictive substances and behaviors, porn activates the part of the brain called the reward center, triggering the release of a cocktail of chemicals that give you a temporary buzz.” As that response creates an addiction, the appetite for experience over fantasy increases likewise.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Charity offers many ways for people to make a difference in their own homes and communities,
as well as the world, through organizations committed to ending trafficking:
- Be educated in what human trafficking is and how to spot it.
- Set wise policies in place for internet communication and social interaction.
- Stop the demand – have a zero pornography policy in your households.
- Support organizations in the fight to end human trafficking.
- Write legislative leaders to support legislation that protects the victims of human trafficking, upholds obscenity laws, and speaks for the common good.
- Vote for leaders opposed to pornography protection.
- Voice concern to companies that support lewd content.
- Encourage kids to treat all sexes with respect and dignity.
- Talk openly with friends and family about the negative effects of pornography and how purity fuels long-lasting relationships.
One legislative success that Charity points to is the SAVE Act of 2013:
“The Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act, or Campus SaVE Act,is a federal law that promises prompt and effective responses by higher education institutions to incidents of sexual violence. At its core, the Campus SaVE Act increases transparency about incidents of sexual violence, guarantees victims’ rights, sets standards for campus disciplinary proceedings, and requires campus-wide prevention education programs.” (MyStudentBody.com)
