By Jamie Brandel | Project Leader
Since 3 Generations started a social action campaign to end child sex slavery in the United States, we have worked to broaden public understanding of exactly what human trafficking is -- a complex and pervasive human rights abuse.
We were disturbed to observe that the recent zero-tolerance immigration policy here in the U.S., which has resulted in the forced separation of children and parents, effectively spills into the realm of child trafficking. Separating children from their parents is wrong on every level. It puts those children at risk for sex trafficking and a lifetime of trauma.
It also mirrors, to the point of absurdity, the legal process that we have long fought in this campaign: putting children before the criminal justice system to face charges for crimes they are forced to commit by adults. On Friday, July 6th, a 1-year-old boy, who was in federal custody, appeared in immigration court in Phoenix. He was alone, only occasionally asking for “agua". He briefly played with a ball, drank from a bottle, then “cried hysterically” as he was about to leave the courtroom. The Judge, John Richardson, said he was “embarrassed to ask” if the child, Johan, understood the proceedings. Obviously he did not.
Further, the involuntary moving of separated children across the country from detention at our borders literally fits the definition of child trafficking. At 3 Generations, we are calling out this human rights abuse. We are using our platform to support organizations working with those children and broadening the interpretation of what has happened to those innocent children. Regardless of current immigration law, their treatment is a violation of global human rights practice.
In addition, we are thrilled to report that in Belton, Texas, the NIF (Now I'm Free) Ministry screened our film Tricked to a sold out audience on June 10th. We are sure the standing room only audience are now better able to identify and prevent child trafficking.
This is our campaign in practice.
By Jamie Brandel | Production Manager
By Maggie McNish | Production Assistant
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