William Wilberforce fought for the abolition of the slave trade in England – yet 250 years down the track, this exploitation is still happening. This is both hard to believe and sickening.
Did you know that 24.9 million people are enslaved in forced labour exploitation and 4.8 million people are forced into commercial sexual exploitation all over the world? The latter is the population of our whole country! The profit generated through human trafficking and slavery combined is more than $250 billion (NZD) annually – that’s our national GDP!
The question we ask ourselves is ‘how does this happen?’ Should it more be a question of ‘how do we let it happen?’ We believe that it is the present’s responsibility to be the voice of all those who are silent, whether it be future generations or those suffering from exploitation today.
One incredible organisation putting their hand up to take a stand against this behaviour is LIFT International. LIFT International works to strengthen justice systems, support survivors and hold offenders accountable for crimes of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. They do this by partnering with governments, grassroots organisations, law enforcement, and international agencies to increase transparency and hold offenders accountable.
Check out some of their success stories here: https://www.liftinternational.org/stories/
They work to…
Identify: Partner with law enforcement to identify perpetrators and victims of human trafficking.
Protect: Assist victims by connecting them to resources such as the support of social workers that help them become survivors.
Prosecute: They believe in prevention through prosecution – so they have a legal team that supports prosecutions of offenders and advocates for the rights of survivors of exploitation in the criminal justice system.
A huge shout out to LIFT International for the remarkable work they do to bring justice to a huge number of victims, and we are proud to support them along with our business partner ISO.
If you’re interesting in donating to help them identify and protect more victims of trafficking and sexual abuse, visit their website here: https://www.liftinternational.org