Martin Luther King Jr. said that a “collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist” is the first step toward positive change. After getting informed about the facts of human trafficking, you can take action:
- Tell someone
Share what you’ve learned in Invisible Chains with a family member, friend, or colleague. - Help the heroes
Support organizations that help survivors by volunteering your time, language abilities, or professional skills. Donate money, clothes, or equipment to them, and perhaps plan a fundraising event to help an organization combating human trafficking. Click here for a list of organization combating human trafficking. - Raise awareness
Host an awareness event with your friends, work associates, church group, or service club to tell them about human trafficking and commit to doing something to address the problem. - Call for change
Email, call, or write a letter to your municipal, provincial, and federal politicians asking what they’re doing to address the problem of human trafficking, and ask them to implement the recommendations for government shown above—they’re supposed to be working for you, after all. - Take a stand
Become an advocate for at least one recommendation in Invisible Chains that you personally want to see adopted. The will to end exploitation must be marshalled for laws, policies, and programs to be reformed as part of the solution. - Let your dollar talk
Buy fair trade products where possible and, if you can’t be sure, avoid products whose makers are notorious for using forced labour. Click here for the global blacklist of forced labour trafficking products. - Speak Up
Raise the issue of human trafficking in letters to the editor, at political debates, in the classroom, and at town hall meetings. - Be a woman against human trafficking
Talk to your husband, boyfriend, partner, or male friends and family members about the realities of women and girls exploited in the sex industry. - Be a man against human trafficking
Don’t pay for sex or go to places where commercial sex acts take place, either in Canada or when travelling abroad, and discourage your friends from doing so if you’re invited to go along to such places. Explain your concerns. - Report it
Be aware of the warning signs of human trafficking in your community, at work, and when travelling. Report suspicious activity to your local police, or Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).You can also report online child sexual abuse imagery, child sex tourism, child trafficking, and child luring to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection at www.cybertip.ca. Don’t just stand idle when you suspect that someone may be a victim of exploitation. Call the police immediately. If you wait, it may be too late. We know that traffickers move victims frequently to avoid detection—help the police get one step ahead of the offenders.
