World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

July 30th, millions of people all over the globe took part in the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. For the entire day, individuals, businesses, and non-profits alike offered up their social media accounts to raise awareness about human trafficking. As a non-profit whose mission it is to snuff out child trafficking, we were eager to lend our platform to this worldwide awareness campaign. ERASE spent the month of July inviting friends and partners to join in reaching out to their networks with the #HelpERASE hashtag. There were interviews with Human Trafficking survivors, advocates, and experts on ERASE’s Facebook page.

Help from our friends

Marc Marty, a Sergeant from the Montebello Police Department and cherished partner in the fight against child trafficking, even took to Facebook Live to invite influencers from everywhere to jump in help us spread the word.  On July 30th, we were floored by what we saw. Our informational posts were shared far and wide on several platforms:

Help Erase Common Signs IG post

As World Day Against Trafficking in Persons comes to a close, please remember we need to raise awareness every day. Human Trafficking Victims do not get a day off nor do they get to sleep in when they want. No option to call out sick or take a mental health day. Every day is a day to survive. We can give a voice to the voiceless. Here are some common signs of a Trafficking Victim. If you see something suspicious please notify law enforcement. #endhumantrafficking #givefreedom #helperase #SpeakUp #LE #LEO #LAW #MissingChildren #socialmedia #Miami #LA #NYC #Dallas #ENDIT

A post shared by ERASE Child Trafficking (@helperase) on Jul 30, 2017 at 9:33pm PDT

Post from our social media community

We saw moving images like this one from @visualizeyourdream:

If the picture bothers you it should! Today is World Day against Trafficking in Persons ! Human trafficking is one of the most heinous and immoral violations of human rights, short and simple it is “modern day slavery” It is on the rise, and it must be stopped! People are not for sale! If you see something wrong please stand up and do right! Also it not just girls and women it’s boys too.#helperase this monstrous crime against humanity,remember Humans are Not Property! Image 1 credit: weheartit.com Image 2: credit:thefilam.net #humantrafficking #befree #notforsale #worlddayagainsthumantrafficking #bebetter #humanity #serious #endhumantrafficking

A post shared by @vizualizeyourdream on Jul 30, 2017 at 8:57am PDT

@infomomma reached out to her audience in Spanish, raising awareness within a community we could never reach on our own:

El día mundial ENCONTRA al Tráfico de Personas o Tráfico Humano… que es y cómo es diferente al transporte ilícito de emigrantes. #traficodepersonas #stopthedemand #esclavitud#extorcion#helperase #phantomrescue #stopthedemand #truckersagainsttrafficking #slaverystillexists

A post shared by Mariae (@infomomma) on Jul 30, 2017 at 6:07pm PDT

From @rising7phoenix, a shared post of a friendly canine who offered up his voice:

Repost from @helperase using @RepostRegramApp – If this really smart 4 legged person can raise awareness we all can do it! Thank you! #Repost @infomomma (@get_repost) ・・・ I love my momma and want to help fight, so here I am! Creating awareness Against Trafficking of Persons Let’s do this!! …a few seconds later… …can I have my reward and this thingy off me? #gsdpage #antitrafficking #antitraffickinggsd #america #antitrafficking #usa#gsdlove #gsdpuppy #helperase #stopchildtrafficking #stopthedemand #enditmovement #us #americanheroes #usnavy #usarmy #usmc #traficodepersonas #traffickcam #intothelightus #bluecampaign #usdhs #IGiveHope #GiveFreedom

A post shared by Kelley RisingPhoenix Alsobrook (@rising7phoenix) on Jul 30, 2017 at 7:57pm PDT

For many of the online brands and businesses who joined us, especially those with a high profile — taking the time to advocate in this way can potentially be bad for business. Still, they decided that this was far too important an issue for them to stay silent.

Just one example: Brian Fanzo, a social media guru, didn’t hesitate to generously share his platform via a live chat with Marc Marty on how to keep kids safe online.

For those who were able to help us by spreading the #HelpERASE hashtag last month, we can’t thank you enough. Your voices have carried farther than you could ever know. Let’s continue to build on that awareness as we work together to erase child trafficking.

For more information on ERASE’s involvement in this year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, check out our live stream video from August 2nd.