Did You Know that January is Human Trafficking Awareness/Prevention Month?

  • Published
  • By Susan Alexander, 45th Space Wing Violence Prevention Director

Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons (TIP) is a form of modern day slavery.

 

It is defined as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of threat, use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse or exploitation. 

 

The Air Force has established a “zero tolerance” for TIP due to the seriousness of the crime, the egregious result toward inhumane treatment of people, and the disabling impact on our military readiness. 

 

Globally, there are approximately 21 million people forced into labor and of those approximately 12.3 million of them are in sex trafficking. TIP is a grave violation of human rights and a worldwide criminal threat to security, civil rights and stability. Also, it’s a direct threat to our national foreign policy goals.

 

While the U.S. Department of Justice has long enforced criminal laws against involun­tary servitude and slavery, the enactment of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 brought new benefits, services, and criminal penalties to address human trafficking in a more comprehensive and effective way. 

 

To learn more about human trafficking and to recognize the signs, go to this link: https://polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/recognize-signs

If you need help or to report suspected human trafficking, call the 24/7 National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text “help” to BeFree (233733). You can also contact the Department of Defense Hotline at 1-800-424-9098 or dodig.mil/hotline.