RIVERSIDE, CALIF. – In today’s society, statistics show that there are an alarming 27 million people in 161 different countries that are victims of modern-day slavery. Approximately 800,000 people are smuggled across international borders each year. Of that number a large percent are women and children, many of whom are exploited into the sex trade. This very sensitive subject will be the topic of discussion at the NAACP Riverside Branch’s General Membership Meeting on Monday, April 18 from 6:30 to 8 pm. at Bordwell Park Stratton Center located at 2008 Martin Luther King Blvd. in Riverside, Calif. Special guest speakers will be representatives from the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force who will share information on “Human Exploitation and Trafficking in Sex of our Youth”.
Riverside County ranks high amongst areas where the sexual exploitation (pimping and pandering) of our youth is taking place. It is in our neighborhood and this meeting will enlighten the community and open discussion about what is happening and what we can do to eradicate this behavior from our neighborhoods.
“While this is a subject we hope never involves our children, it is imperative that we as a community are informed and remain vigilant in order to spread the word, that this “cancer” is amongst us,” said NAACP Riverside Branch President Woodie Rucker-Hughes. “So come one, come all to listen and learn!”
Background:
Human trafficking, as defined by the United Nations, is the process by which a person is recruited to be controlled and held captive for the purpose of exploitation.
Normally, it involves the impossible to compile. However, estimates show why national and international teamwork is necessary to combat the problem:
- Trafficking, a nine billion dollar industry, is the fasted growing criminal enterprise.
- Worldwide approximately 27 million people are enslaved
- 14,500 to 17,500 immigrants are trafficked into the U.S. per year. Of this total, 70 percent are women, 50 percent are children.
- Just in Los Angeles alone, about 10,000 females, adults and children, are hostages of underground brothels and prostitution rings.
Other types of forced labor includes working in assembly sweatshops, making and sewing clothes, growing food for exports, cleaning homes, and providing childcare for the families of their slaveholders.
This NAACP Riverside Branch General Membership meeting is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information call 951-324-9603 or visit www.naacp-riverside.org.