History of Women in the World combat Human Trafficking

History+of+Women+in+the+World+hung+these+posters+up+around+school+to+bring+awareness+to+human+trafficking.

History of Women in the World

History of Women in the World hung these posters up around school to bring awareness to human trafficking.

To end their semester, History of Women in the World started a social media campaign to combat human trafficking for their community service project. After having a speaker come in to discuss human trafficking, the class decided to build platforms on Instagram and Facebook (under the name @stophumantraffickingmn) for people who wanted to find out more information or needed help. There are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally.

“We were thinking of building a website and [the speaker] said social media would reach more people and sometimes people who are being trafficked can access them without having to search for things so the information is more useful. Everybody in the class came up with a list of links and resources and then they shared it with their friends. We’ve asked people in the blue sheet to also share them,” History of Women in the World teacher Andrea Moerer said.

Through the campaign, the class hopes that people both become more aware and supportive of survivors.

“One thing we struggled with in class was that in MN, and many other states, there’s something called the Safe Harbor legislation which sees survivors not as criminals but survivors. It used to see people that were engaged in sex work as criminals, even young people. Now, that ends when they turn 24, which is better than what it used to be at 18. Even 10 years ago, if a 14-year-old were being prostituted they would be put into the criminal justice system rather than a survivor system,” Moerer said.

While the platforms are up and functional, they are not currently being updated since the seniors left for senior project.

“I will teach Gender in America next year, so I will leave it up to that class if they want to do something with those platforms or expand them,” Moerer said.

There are a variety of ways to get involved and help combat human trafficking. There are two 5Ks occurring, one on May 12 and another on June 9 to raise money and awareness about the issue. Visit Minnesota Human Trafficking Task Force for more information and statistics.