Advocating for Human Dignity

Having been raised in close-knit families, my wife and I strive to do the same with our kids, with family and friends always being part of the social fabric, providing a safe environment and the right education so that our kids can make choices in pursuit of life and happiness as they see fit. Perhaps this is why there has been an undercurrent of "this is not right" whenever I have read or heard about human trafficking, and I am sure most of us still don't know the full and ugly extent of which it is an issue in the world around us. Homeland Security, the DoJ, Department of State, the UN, and other government agencies across the globe define what human trafficking is and isn’t… but at the core of all of it is that one human being coercing or manipulating another, for commercial benefit, to do something they’d have otherwise not chosen to do. To me, that’s unacceptable. Breaking up families and denying little ones (or grown ones for that matter) their right to explore the full potential of life and make their own choices, is not something any of us should stand by and watch.

?

Last year I finally decided to at least make an attempt to research and understand what is going on in the fight against trafficking and how average citizens can help. I came across Justice At Last (JAL) among other organizations through the online directory made available by the National Human Trafficking Hotline and reached out to Rose Mukhar (She/Her) , founder and Executive Director at JAL, to find out how I can help. Rose has been a source of inspiration and information ever since. As the only nonprofit law firm in Northern California for survivors of human trafficking, JAL's core mission is to empower survivors by providing access to free comprehensive legal services that are so badly required to help them get reintegrated into society and have a shot at leading normal lives again. Most of them do not know what their rights are, how to expunge any criminal records (from being trafficked), what housing and jobs related assistance is available, etc. While this mission of helping survivors is sorely lacking and is necessary, I asked Rose why not go upstream and help with prevention of trafficking and get at the root of the problem. She helped me understand that one has to be in law enforcement to directly be involved in fighting the crime, but also that helping survivors reintegrate and have a normal life is an indirect but indeed a powerful way to help in the fight against trafficking. As survivors return to normal lives, many tend to become advocates, sharing their experience and invaluable insights into the workings of trafficking, providing critical information for authorities to be more effective in their efforts around prevention. This really hit home when I ran into a lovely lady at a recent conference shared with me that she is a survivor who had been trafficked when she was sixteen by her own mother for drug money, was rescued some years ago, received help from various agencies and is now an elementary school teacher, finally living a normal life – she was at the conference because she felt compelled to give back, sharing her experience, informing and educating those who are in the fight against trafficking. Part of JAL’s mission is to also disseminate such learnings and drive awareness and education amongst relevant agencies and social workers so that they can do a better job of recognizing the crime and the victims, because it is widely believed that a lot of it still goes unreported.

?

The International Labor Organization is one source for statistics on human trafficking – but even that is at best an estimate according to which, 27.6 million people were in situations of forced labor globally as of 2021, and no region in the world is immune to this. The general perception that sweatshops are only in Asia and trafficking for sexual exploitation is always cross-border in nature is just that… perception. Reality is that this is happening all around us – a garment factory down in SoCal, or a farm up in NorCal, accounting for tens of thousands of victims across the US and thousands (if not more) just in California. Last year, JAL alone helped 410 victims and trained over 2400 people so they can better detect trafficking and provide relief to victims. As commendable as this is, we all know this is only tip of the iceberg and there is a lot more that needs to be done. I am generally one to keep a low profile on most things I do. But I am excited to share that I have had the privilege of serving on the Board of Directors at JAL since October of last year, and look forward to collaborating with Rose and the rest of the team. And I wanted to share this here as I know we are going to need as many helping hands as possible in this fight against modern day slavery, and to make human dignity a fundamental right and not a privilege. There are many ways to get involved and/or contribute, and I’d be glad to discuss and provide additional information – those of you interested, please reach out to me directly. Thanks for taking the time to read an atypically long message from me :)

Rose Mukhar (She/Her) Pouneh Ghaffarian Devika Botejue Glenn M. Meryl Friedman Shaya Fathali Natasha Keswani (she/her) Sherrie Friedman