Intervening on Human Trafficking at the United Nations

The issue of human trafficking is growing rapidly around the world affecting and trapping over 40 million victims. The Department of Justice has issued a report to address human trafficking. But it’s not enough to just talk about it – we need action. 

We’ve told you how we have called attention to the spread of human trafficking in specific countries through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process through our international affiliate office –  the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ). We’ve also submitted a written report to the U.N. Human rights Council (UNHRC). Recently, we delivered an oral intervention to the UNHRC interacting with the Special Rapporteur on human trafficking. Our team is fighting this on all fronts.

ACLJ Senior Counsel CeCe Heil delivered the oral intervention to the U.N. Human Rights Council. She joined Sekulow to discuss the issue of human trafficking:

We call it modern day slavery. Because that is really what it is. People are sometimes stolen from their homes, usually lured away too with false promises and then they are forced into labor and or sexual commerce, obviously something they had not wanted to do or would do willingly.

As she explained in her new article:

Human traffickers typically target the most vulnerable and abused individuals with false promises of well-paying jobs. The victims are forced to live in extremely poor conditions while making the bare minimum, if any at all, while their captors take the rest. Sadly, children and women make up 99% of the victims in the commercial sex industry and 58% in other sectors.

These statistics are alarming. Human trafficking has become a worldwide problem that needs to be addressed both domestically and internationally. And we are doing both. At the ACLJ, we are fighting domestically to fight the scourge of human trafficking. And through the ECLJ, we are fighting internationally to reveal this cruelty and urge world leaders to take action.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast segment on this issue is complete with even more analysis of our work through the ECLJ to put an end to human trafficking at the U.N.

Watch the full broadcast below.