Truckers, Join the Fight: Help Stop Human Trafficking
Human trafficking, or modern-day slavery, is when people are bought and sold for forced labor or commercial sex. Right now, it is estimated that there are over 40 million slaves around the world. Many may want to believe this doesn’t happen “in our back yard,” but in the U.S, human trafficking has been reported in all 50 states, and the number of victims is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.
According to a recent report provided by Truckers Against Trafficking, an organization dedicated to educating, equipping, empowering and mobilizing members of the trucking, bus and energy industries to combat human trafficking:
- 71% of sex trafficking victims are female
- Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos and Asians are trafficked at a higher rate proportionally than the percentage of their race in the population as a whole
- Traffickers leverage circumstances like poverty and foster care to target victims
For human trafficking to be stopped, attitudes need to change. The equal dignity and value of all human beings must be respected regardless of race, gender or circumstances. Unfortunately, these changes don’t happen overnight. That’s why NXTPoint Logistics® has joined the fight and is committed to helping our drivers recognize and report suspicious activity.
“As part of the trucking industry, it’s our responsibility to equip our drivers with the tools to combat human trafficking crimes,” said Scott Perry, NXTPoint Logistics President of Moving and Logistics, and Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT) Chairman. “TAT is a great resource for organizations and individuals to learn how to be part of the solution of ridding the world of modern-day slavery.”
How To Join the Fight
Victims of trafficking are frequently on the move, and truck drivers are the eyes and ears of our nation’s highways and major transportation routes. Do you know the red flags to look for to recognize human trafficking? Do you know what to say to someone you think might be a victim of trafficking? Do you know who to call? TAT offers a free, short training video that teaches the basics about identifying and reporting human trafficking.
To date, more than 1,265,000 members of the trucking industry in the U.S. have taken advantage of this training and learned how to recognize and properly report human trafficking when they see it in the course of their regular jobs. Now, these men and women who witnesses criminal acts can identify it as forced prostitution and modern-day slavery, and they know to call 911 and the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to report these suspected crimes. As a result, thousands of victims have been rescued and given the opportunity to recover, heal and regain their right to live with full human dignity, value and worth.
To learn more, visit truckersagainsttrafficking.org.
