The following is a message concerning a fundraiser here at Champlain to help end human trafficking and support the victims:
“Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights.” -United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Human trafficking is the recruitment of someone by force, fraud, and/or coercion with the purpose of exploitation(1). It is difficult to know how many people are trafficked, but international estimates consistently report it is in the millions. In the United States alone, it is estimated there are over 100,000 children currently being trafficked (2). Even more discouraging, is that 79% of victims, adults and children, are forced into sex trafficking (4).
Did you know that over 99% of human trafficking victims never get rescued (3)? We are working to change that. Human trafficking victims often aren’t comfortable speaking with law enforcement or others because of shame, embarrassment, or fear. Also, they may not seek help for the trauma they’ve suffered. If law enforcement or others do not understand sex trafficking, the victim may be further anguished if they are treated as prostitutes. A common need by law enforcement and service providers is the ability to be able to communicate with the victim in the victim’s native language (5).
We are creating an application (“app”)- that will allow victims to respond to questions in their chosen language, in order to expedite the services they need or even capture the trafficker and locate more victims under the trafficker’s control. The application will help inform the development of an eBook-
a guide which can be distributed to law enforcement and other service providers-including health care providers, battered & homeless shelters, social workers, faith based organizations, etc. One other benefit to the service providers is that they receive this application and ebook at no charge.
In order to make this happen, we need your support to help raise funds for this project. We need to raise $35,000 to sustain this project. Students at Champlain College will help sustain this project and the project will be led by Assistant Professor Duane Dunston. Your tax-deductible support will help with the licenses for software to sustain this application, help the cost of translating the assessment questions to many languages, and the cost of paying students who will help keep this project alive. Every donation amount counts. $1 from many people adds up quickly to help us achieve this goal.
To donate in order to help us reach our goal, you can click the link below or mail in a donation.
https://www.champlain.edu/donate
Fill in your Name, Address, Contact Information, and expand “Divisions” and select “Division of Information Technology & Sciences” and then fill in “Other Designation” with: You Have a Voice.
If mailing in payment, send to:
Champlain College
Office of Advancement
PO Box 670
Burlington, VT 05402
Memo “You Have a Voice”
1. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html
2. https://www.polarisproject.org/human-trafficking/overview
4. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html
5. https://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/07/humantrafficking/Needs/ib.shtml