Happy back to school time! Children are getting on the bus and to the classroom, and replyforall wanted to take this opportunity to raise awareness for one of our eight causes, Protect Children’s Rights.  Children around the world, who are not often given a political voice with which to protect themselves, are still subject to many of the issues we see among adults– forced labor, prostitution, abuse, poverty, and war.  As we go into the fall semester, whether we’re a student or not, replyforall would rather see children in classrooms than in sweatshops, armies, or on the street.

Have you heard of the term “human trafficking?”  Some people think it just means forcibly transporting someone across national borders but, that’s considered kidnapping.  Those who are transported across borders willingly are being smuggled into the country.  But human trafficking, while it is involves kidnapping and smuggling, is akin to modern-day slavery.

Human trafficking is based on the recruitment, harboring, and transportation of people solely for the purpose of exploitation. The United Nations estimates that human trafficking generates over $7 billion annually in profits, making it the one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world. Victims of trafficking are forced or coerced into labor (anywhere from a domestic servant to a multinational corporation), or may be sexually exploited through bride trades, pornography, or prostitution.

Children are far too often the victim of this business, both within national borders and across them.  The US Department of Justice reported that 50% of transnational human trafficking victims were children, and the US Department of the State estimates 1 million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade every year.

If you think this doesn’t happen in the United States, think again. An estimated 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked– against their will– into the US every year.  And a study funded by the Department of Justice found that upwards of 240,000 children and youth in the United States were at risk of child sexual exploitation, including commercially.  In fact, the average age to enter prostitution in the US is between 12 and 13 years old.

replyforall is happily partnering with the Polaris Project to fight human trafficking around the world and to stop the entry of children into slavery.  We hope that you’ll spread the word about this great organization and add our signature to your email to not just raise awareness for the Protect Children’s Rights cause, but to generate donations to the Polaris Project with every email you send.

Fight the Good Fight,

Johanna Hudgens

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	Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 percent of them were girls.
	By using this email signature, Johanna and Polaris Project help protect childrens rights with replyforall and sponsors. What’s replyforall about? Click to learn more »