One of the first questions many people ask when confronted with the stark reality of human trafficking is "What can I do?".  What we must remember is that no matter how small a contribution we make, it DOES help.

World Visions' Don't Trade Lives website says: 

"To be effective, anti-trafficking strategies must target the three dimensions of human trafficking: supply, demand and the systems and structures that allow it happen. This means taking action in the countries of origin, transit and destination. All the interventions developed to combat trafficking can be clustered under the 4Ps - Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Policy.

Prevention reduces the vulnerability of a person or community to becoming a victim of trafficking. To be effective, the factors that make a person or community vulnerable must be clearly identified. Tackling demand is another way to prevent trafficking - for example, educating consumers about how their lifestyle choices impact others.
Protection begins when a victim is rescued and reunited with their family and continues when they are assisted to rebuild their lives. It may include keeping victims safe from threat, violence and abuse, counselling, help with income generation, education and vocational training.
Prosecution ensures the victim receives full justice, including meaningful prosecution of the perpetrator. It requires vigorous law enforcement, fighting corruption, identifying and monitoring trafficking routes, and cross-border coordination.
Policy is the framework which supports all of the anti-trafficking initiatives described above. 
(Source: Responding to Trafficking: Don't Trade Lives)" 

Our club has accepted one element of how we can help by raising the awareness of the issue through promoting "The Jammed DVD" for sale, holding public screenings of it, visiting other organisations who are discussing the topic and having guest speakers come to our breakfast meetings to talk on the topic of human trafficking.  We've taken the view that people have to "know about a problem" in order to take the first steps in "solving a problem". 

The Internet is a fantastic tool and we have researched ways in which you can help stop human trafficking.  The following is just some of what we have come across but the possibilities are infinite. Some of the information is location specific but often, even in that, there are tips to be gleaned: 

1. Become informed by researching the topic. If you visit our Useful Links page, scroll down to find a list of Human Trafficking links. Otherwise, perform general Internet searches. Consider buying or renting DVD's such as "The Jammed", Trade or Human Trafficking. Consider purchasing or borrowing books on the topic. There are some lists at USinfo.state.gov, ppl.nl, Women and Children for Sale (reference list) and article, International Human Trafficking Research articles, paper produced by the American Baptist Women's Ministries on books and articles on human trafficking and so on.
2. Spread the word. Raise the issue amongst your family and friends. Use the email link icon above (top right of this article) to email this article to your email lists.
3. Create promotional material , brochures and posters or other literature and actively use these in any social or community groups in which you belong.
4. Host a briefing session in your own social circles or educate yourself to the point you are prepared to speak on the topic at local community organisations.
5. Write articles for your local community newspapers, church newsletters, community group publications, university newspaper and so on.
6. Watch and report back to the police should you see anything suspicious.  One organisation leading the charge on this is "Not For Sale" out of the United States. Inside the United States, the campaign identifies trafficking rings and collaborates with local law enforcement and community groups to shut them down and provide support for the victims. Internationally, the campaign partners with poorly resourced abolitionist groups to enhance their capacity.
7. Purchase products that have been made by recovering victims of human slavery. Additionally, you could hold stock of such items and use them as fundraisers for community clubs, for house parties, churches fundraisers or sell them as merchandise in a physical or online store if you have an appropriate shop. A couple of organisations promoting such goods for sale and who also offer to wholesale are: The Not For Sale store and the Made by Survivors store.
8. Lobby your local politicians and governments to be more active. Each country has a different level of action and understanding of the issue. Find out where your governments (local, state and/or national) stand on the issue and put the pressure on them to do even more.
9. Follow Don't Trade Live's lead and encourage people to "Take the chocolate challenge". They use chocolate in their campaign because a) most people like it and b) a large amount of the world's cocoa comes from places that have high uses of child labour and potentially trafficked child labour. Whilst they are not suggesting you stop buying chocolate (given that it provides people with a livelihood) they do have some methods by which you can raise the profile of where its coming from and therefore lobby the confectionary manufacturers to make sure human trafficking is not involved in the sourcing their raw materials. Further information is available from their website.
10. Volunteer to help organisations (such as ours) who are actively doing things around the issue. Our membership pages are located here but we have sister clubs all over the world, many of whom are actively working on this issue. And if they aren't, the structure is set up to encourage members to put forward their particular issue (so long as it fits within the overall organisational objectives) and run it as their project.
11. If you are an artist, consider using it to inspire your creative talent in whatever your art medium of choice is. If you are a musician, consider writing a song about it.  If you are into videography, consider creating a short film or documentary on the topic. Witness.org is one organisation actively helping people learn how to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change. They also have some great online tools.  And for those that succeed in a great result, they offer to sell and promote those videos online.
12. Organise with appropriate police, enforcement agencies or community groups to develop outreach to help women and children exit the sex industry.
13. Develop social services. Victims of organised sexual exploitation are often in desperate need of shelter and other services.
14. Combat the demand. This means making sure there are appropriate resources for those struggling with sexual addictions and educating the young about having good relationships.
15. Utilise and educate those as to the "Be Smart, Be Safe" brochures which describe the tactics criminal groups use to coerce and traffic women, the risks of trafficking, what women can do to protect themselves against illegitimate groups, what are victims' rights in the U.S., and how women can get help while in the United States.
16. Poverty and lack of economic opportunity make women and children potential victims of traffickers associated with international criminal organisations.  Poverty lies behind many human rights issues. If we can eliminate poverty, we are a long way along in eliminating issues such as human trafficking.  A first start in this is to learn about poverty. Visit the Make Poverty History organisation.  A current trend to helping reduce poverty is the ability for people to provide micro loans or micro finance to business startups. Even eBay has taken a slice of this by setting up MicroPlace. Check out this article on MicroPlace by Social Funds. A similar organisation is Kiva.org. There are many others so do your own research.
17. Donate to organisations who are helping to solve the human trafficking problem. Just a couple of organisations to which you can donate directly are: Project Respect in Australia, The International Justice Mission in the United States, Somaly Mam Foundation in the United States and AFESIP in Cambodia. There are many more such organisations so do your own research and decide which one/s you want to support.
18. Join anti-trafficking campaigns.  Create your own online petition campaign. Here is an example.
19. Volunteer to help organisations on-the-ground in places that help trafficked people. One such organisation is AFESIP in Cambodia but there will be others.

To help in our advocacy work, we would encourage you to copy this web page, and duplicate on your own sites. All we ask is that you keep the article in its entirety including this message and the author's details below. 

Author: Michelle Jansen
Member - Soroptimist International Brisbane City
Original Article Source 

List References:

• Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation: What can YOU do to help fight human trafficking?
• Human Trafficking Organisation - Combat Trafficking 
• You can help stop trafficking by...