We’ll start with some classics and end with some ethical fashion.

Show love to your friends with these valentines and fair trade mini-chocolates.

The ultimate ethical classic: a heart shaped box of fair trade chocolates.

Nothings says romance like wine. Find fair trade wine makers here.

Roses: Pretty much the most timelessly romantic gift. Get ‘em fair trade.

And now for ethical fashion! Here’s an assortment of some of our favorite STF products (click the picture to see the item in the shop):

Reclaimed Lace Wristlet

Mrs. Bird Bag (a great gift bag)

Beloved Bag

By Tavi Purses

Hand Soap and Lotion

Spring Garden Earrings

Amelia Necklace

Chinese Lantern Earrings

Coco Necklace

Rose Petal Necklace

Everyday Abolitionist is a recurring feature on the blog where we’ll hear firsthand from someone using their skills, talents, and opportunities to fight trafficking. This time around we have Jamie Elkins who works with the Crossover Foundation.

Read about more Everyday Abolitionists.

Love and Sacrifice

In Erwin McManus’s The Barbarian Way, he says that “…love and sacrifice cannot be separated.”  In 2008, I unknowingly began a journey when I first learned about the trafficking of women and children happening in South Asia. My heart ached for the millions of women and children suffering abuse in isolation as a result of a deep brokenness that has plagued humanity since the beginning of time. I knew I had to do something. What I didn’t know was how real that quote would become for me in the process.

I started following the efforts of International Justice Mission (IJM), a human rights agency that works with local governments all over the world to help victims of violent oppression find freedom. In South Asia, IJM collaborates with police to rescue girls and women from forced prostitution, advocates for them in legal cases against their perpetrators and provides them with counseling during their rehabilitation.

While I did my best to read up on the issue of trafficking in South Asia, I began to realize the sickening grip trafficking had on the world as a whole. I was shocked to learn that trafficking happened in the United States as well—even in Cincinnati. Since, going to South Asia didn’t seem like a logical option at the time, I started trying to find ways to get involved in the abolition movement at home.

I was working as a paralegal for an immigration law firm when I learned about a National Underground Railroad Freedom Center project about human trafficking in Cincinnati.  As a paralegal, I was familiar with doing research and sought out some friends at my church, Crossroads, to see if they could connect me to the project. Within a matter of days, I found myself volunteering on the Cincinnati Human Trafficking Report as a researcher; interviewing individuals in the community who would likely be first responders to reports of trafficking and assessing their level of knowledge about the subject and the steps they would take if they suspected a trafficking situation. Love and sacrifice.

Jamie in South Asia in 2009

In February 2009, a year after first learning about the work of IJM, I had the opportunity to travel to South Asia with a group from Crossroads to volunteer at an IJM-partner aftercare home for survivors of trafficking. Love and sacrifice. I spent a week interacting with IJM social workers and aftercare home staff and was even blessed by spending time playing, painting and laughing with the very girls whose stories made my heart ache. Despite the emotional and physical reminders of what the girls there had been through—at the heart of it, they were simply teenage girls who loved to talk about their favorite actors in Bollywood films, paint nails and braid hair.

When I returned to the US, I could more clearly see the gift of freedom and the importance of ensuring a better life for young girls and women who had been dealt a difficult hand in life. I started brainstorming about ways I could continue to raise awareness about trafficking at home and abroad. About six months after returning from my short trip abroad, I was offered an opportunity to serve IJM as an intern for one year in South Asia! Love and sacrifice. My involvement with anti-trafficking in the local community, Crossroad’s justice ministry and my recent experience in South Asia, primed me for a volunteer role serving an IJM field office.

From January 2010 to April 2011, I lived in South Asia volunteering as an intern at IJM. Part of my job was raising awareness in the local community by creating presentations and hosting conferences where people could learn more about trafficking, how it affected the city we were in, what IJM was doing to help victims of forced prostitution and how they, as members of the community, could play a part in ensuring justice for the girls and young women IJM worked with.

Jamie (middle) with colleagues from IJM in South Asia

For the most part, my skills in administration and building relationships with others enabled me to serve IJM well. By keeping my boss organized and helping him facilitate relationships with individuals in the community, we were able to host over six conferences, reaching close to 600 people who had little to no awareness about the evils of trafficking that plagued their own community. As a result of those conferences, members of the community began volunteering with IJM on rescue operations, testifying in court against the pimps and traffickers who forced innocent girls and young women into prostitution and sharing love with survivors rehabilitating in partner aftercare homes. Love and sacrifice.

After my fellowship with IJM concluded, I was introduced to another opportunity that allowed me to continue using my skills in administration and relationship building by serving Crossover Foundation, an NGO in South Asia that is dedicated to restoring, renewing and reinstating survivors of trafficking as they cross over into a life of freedom. Love and sacrifice. When a girl is rescued from a situation of trafficking, she is placed in a government aftercare home where she is given medical care and introduced to counseling. She is also given some access to education and skills training. Often times, girls are transferred into privately run aftercare homes where they can continue to avail of education, counseling and skills training resources. Unfortunately, when a girl turns 18, she is typically not ready to be on her own and live independently without the very real chance of being re-trafficked as a result of economic destitution.

Staff at Crossover Foundation

Crossover Foundation partners with local South Asian churches and guides and supports them in the process of building, staffing and operating quality aftercare and transition homes for survivors of trafficking. In addition to helping start new homes, Crossover Foundation also builds relationships with local social enterprise organizations that can provide adequate training and job placement opportunities for the young women so they can become economically self-sufficient.  A lot of what I do at Crossover is general office work. I write reports to our donors, coordinate the production of communication initiatives and help create more efficient systems and protocols that allow our staff to do their jobs well.

Even though I don’t physically rescue women from situations of forced prostitution, provide them with counseling, or train them for rewarding careers, I am glad and extremely blessed to use my skills in administration to ensure that my colleagues and our partners are well positioned to do their jobs well, directly impacting the livelihood of the girls and young women we work to restore.  Love and sacrifice.

Despite the fact that I’ve been working in the anti-trafficking realm in some capacity for the last 3 years, my mind is still blown away when I think about the pervasive nature of trafficking in this world. Whether you ascribe to following the words of scripture, constitutions, or books on philosophy, one thing is certain: Slavery is wrong and it needs to end.

Sometimes the problem seems too large to tackle—and it is if you think you can tackle it alone. The good news is: we all have gifts, talents, skills and hearts. When each person does what they can to fight this terrible injustice, action happens and lives are changed.

Jamie volunteering at a children's home in South Asia

So what does it look like to engage in the fight? Call your senators. Advocate for amendments to legislation that will protect survivors of trafficking. Buy fair trade products.  Many of the girls and women rescued from situations of forced prostitution are employed by social enterprise organizations and taught skills to create products to sell locally and abroad. By supporting such organizations, you have the opportunity to support survivors of trafficking as they earn their way to self-sufficiency, eliminating the possibility of re-trafficking by economic destitution. That is powerful. Donating to organizations that are connected with opportunities that provide relief and restoration to survivors of trafficking is another great way to use the resources you’ve been blessed with to bless girls and young women ready to take a step of faith and journey to new life of freedom.

Above all, don’t stop talking. Tell everyone you know about what is happening all over the world. “Trafficking” has become a buzzword in the past 5 years—it is being talked about, and because of that women and children all over the world are finding relief and being reinstated back into society. Use the voice you have for those whose voices cannot be heard over the drone of lies and deception that have snuffed out their sound.

Make a list of your skills. What do you do for a living? What did you study? What are you passionate about? What are you good at? Really study those skills and brainstorm about ways you can use those gifts and talents to impact the abolition movement.  I never would have thought that my ability to stay organized, type quickly and write well could translate into opportunities to fight trafficking. How amazing is that? Love and sacrifice.

Stop Traffick Fashion thrives because of the wonderful people who help run our events, tally and tag our inventory, design our print and online materials, photograph our merchandise, spread the word about trafficking, host home parties, and more. They’re an integral part of empowering women and ending human trafficking. Seriously—they’re great people. And we want you to meet them!

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a dreamer, an introvert, a singer-songwriter/worship leader, and an amateur artist. I love adventure and welcome change. I am always planning and eagerly anticipating my next road trip. I’m 33 years old and have been married to Jason for 13 wonderful years. He and I recently planted a church in Delhi (a suburb of Cincinnati). This new adventure is demanding more of us than anything ever has, but we welcome the spiritual growth in us and our newly formed church family.

What do you do with STF?
I am a social media ambassador, meaning I promote STF on my Facebook page by posting links to news updates, blog posts, special sales, events etc. I volunteer at events to help with set-up/tear-down, sharing with people about the products and organizations behind them, and sales. I intend to have a home party so that my friends and family can see the products in person and I can share with them personally.

How did you first get interested in learning about human trafficking?
I first became aware that slavery still exists when a friend invited me to a dinner supporting the Restavek Foundation (read our recent post on Restavek). A few weeks later I heard the director of Hagar USA speak at Echo Church and I was so moved hearing about their work. I knew that I’d never be the same. I also knew I needed to take action.

What do you do outside STF to fight human trafficking?
I pray, truly believing it makes a difference. Sometimes Women at Risk sends out specific prayer requests on rescue operations in process or personal survivor stories. I pray over the woman who made the shirt or jewelry I’m wearing. I am compelled to tell people and raise awareness of what is happening and what they can do about it. As a church, we help support an orphanage in Haiti that gives parents a safe place to give up their children when they cannot provide for them. I only buy ethically sourced coffee and chocolate. I live with less stuff so that I can afford to make more ethical purchases. I like to give fair trade and homemade gifts. I follow the work of International Justice Mission and they lead me to sign petitions and send letters to government representatives.

What’s the most important thing you have you learned about fighting modern day slavery and empowering women?
I cannot allow myself to be so overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem that I give up doing anything. Every individual rescued from slavery is worth it.

What’s your favorite STF product? What do you like about it? How has it helped you tell others about human trafficking?
I love my magazine bead necklace (from 31Bits—read our post about 31Bits). It always attracts attention and compliments. I often hand it to people so they can examine it closely as I explain the origins of the jewelry. I carry Stop Traffick Fashion postcards in my purse to hand out to those who want to learn more.

Rescue
This is the most commonly talked of rescue. The dramatic raid: doors kicked in by police, captives set free by compassionate social workers. This work is the specialty of the International Justice Mission. These rescues are very powerful because only they can free to the most deeply enslaved, the most abused, and the youngest victims of trafficking and exploitation. Nicholas Kristof has written about brothel raids with IJM and Somaly Mam.

Escape
This is perhaps the most dangerous road to freedom. A covert run for it under the cover of night almost always brings armed captors chasing, hoping to recapture their investment. It’s even more treacherous when the police aren’t a safe haven. Trafficking survivor and abolitionist Somaly Mam ran away from the brothel where she was help captive after years of torture and abuse. She tells her story in The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine.

Earn Freedom
Much modern day slavery is debt based. Families working at brick kilns across India and Pakistan are stuck because a father or grandfather needed to borrow some money. Now, charged exorbitant interest or cheated in the paperwork, they’re trapped. In some rare cases families in this situation earn enough to buy their freedom. But not until after years of dawn-to-dusk back breaking labor for every member of the family.

Just Walk Away
Many of the women at Freeset are trafficked from Bangladesh and the Murshidabad region of West Bengal, India. Once they arrive in the red light district many are simply abandoned. They have no education, no help. So they’re trapped selling sex to pay high rent. But many can walk away—there’s no one holding them. Their enslavement has become situational. Given opportunities like work at Freeset or Sari Bari, women can leave the trade. While these women are some of the luckiest trafficking victims, just walking away is not as uncomplicated as it seems.

A bonus good read: The Happiness Project interviews Conor Grennan, founder of Next Generation Nepal and author of Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal. Next Generation Nepal works to help trafficked kids and reunited them with their parents.

I’m reading a book called Friendship at the Margins. One of the authors, Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh, tells about how he was visiting the home of some his friends in India. His friends are poor, and the mother and daughters all work constantly to scrape by. The daughters work in a garment factory. Right away one of the daughters recognized the GAP shirt he was wearing. “I made that!” she said proudly. “How much does it cost in America?” Chris choked. How could he tell her that he’d paid $40 knowing she’d only made a few cents each hour?

As conscious consumers, we’re in a tight spot. We want to buy clothes that are produced fairly, but we don’t have a lot of information or options to work with. We want the levels of global employment that big clothing corporations can produce. Plus, we want fashionable clothes that we feel good wearing. Is all that too much to ask?

Solving the Fair-Trade Fashion Problem
The solution is two-fold and challenges us to brave gray areas without getting discouraged. First, we need to encourage companies to be more ethical in every step of the supply chain. It’s easy to jump on the anti-big-company bandwagon, but it’s not that clear cut. “I’m never shopping at GAP again” isn’t the answer. These companies do provide jobs to people who otherwise would be unemployed and at risk of being trafficked. The women in the story above are proud of their jobs and their work.

So rather than shunning clothing corporations we need to call them to account for their actions. We’ve talked about this a lot on the blog. This post on fair trade Christmas shopping will get you started. You can also write directly to companies to tell them that fair trade is important to you through Chain Store Reaction from Call+Response.

The second part of the solution is to buy fair trade clothes whenever you can. No, the selection’s not as infinite, but there are some darn good things out there. Here’s a shopping list to get your started. (Sorry, gents, this a mostly lady-focused list, but almost all of these places have men’s options as well.)

First off, there are STF Fair Trade Tees from Freeset. The New Life Tee is my favorite.

Trade for Change features clothes made by Global Mamas in Africa. Check out this cute retro dress.

Sevya’s clothes are made in India and the company reinvests all profits into these communities through microfinance, healthcare, and educational programs. Here’s their White Chikankari Tunic.

Fair Indigo has a wide selection of US-made, fair trade, organic clothes—including this luscious Alpaca Boucle Long Vest. (I’ve shopped Fair Indigo!)

Revive Fair Trade has some great wardrobe staples like this Draped Open Jacket.

Indigenous has artisan-created styles like this Urban Hoodie I got for Christmas—super-cozy!

Marigold Fair Trade Clothing works with a women’s co-op in Mumbai, India. Check out the Chaela Top.

Maggie’s Organics has some great staples like socks—including Solid Crew Socks and (OMG!) Tie-Dye Baby Socks.

Global Stewards lists even more fair trade clothing vendors.

Later we’ll hunt for an even more coveted treasure: FAIR TRADE JEANS!

BAD NEWS (Hang on! There’s good news coming!)

“Human Trafficking: FIA to Probe Fake Visa Case Involving British Council” from the Express Tribune. It’s tough to tell exactly who’s at fault here, but this is definitely shady business. Government corruption is always scary, especially when human trafficking is involved. Let’s hope British Council Pakistan gets this cleaned up.

A case of human trafficking surfaced in the British Council Karachi office when an official of the council awarded fake visa recommendation letters to various teachers and students who wanted to travel to the UK under the scheme “Connecting Classrooms” last year.

“Virginia’s Struggle to Fight Human Trafficking” from the Washington Times. Virginia’s laws are making the state even more dangerous for trafficked teens. The laws “lead law enforcement to criminalize victims, ignore the magnatude of the crime, and impose light penalties on traffickers.” Unacceptable.

Current Virginia law contradicts federal human trafficking law. Federal trafficking law treats all children engaged in prostitution as victims. In Virginia, however, the state law assumes that children between 15 and 17 are able to consent to commercial sex acts and are criminals, not victims forced into the sex trade.

“Kenyan Magazine Exposes Trafficking Trends” from albawaba. Men are vulnerable, too. Unemployment makes the promises of traffickers even more tempting. And educated people aren’t immune.

The report alleges that gay and bisexual men are lured from university campuses—particularly from Kenyatta University—with promises of high-paying jobs and then transported to labor as sex workers for men in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.  According to the magazine, due to Kenya’s soaring unemployment rate, the men are easily fooled into this trap. Qatar specifically, has no laws against human trafficking, which has made cracking down on the practice nearly impossible.

“Missouri Man Pleads Guilty in Brutal Sex Slave Case” from Fox 4 News. While convictions for trafficking are always good news, the extreme sickness of this case and the weakness of the punishment are just too much to handle. Pathetic punishments for traffickers are a major problem. (WARNING: This article is pretty overwhelming to read.)

Under federal statutes, Stokes is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 and an order of restitution.

HOPEFULLY GOOD NEWS

“Indiana Senate Backs Tougher Sex-Trafficking Law” from Chicago Tribune. Come on, Indiana House of Reps! Get this done in time to prosecute the traffickers about to flock to Indy for the Super Bowl. Thanks, Indiana Senate, for supporting this unanimously.

Prosecutors and other supporters say the bill would make it easier to prosecute sex trafficking cases involving victims younger than 16 and broaden the law for cases with older victims. The bill makes recruiting, transporting or harboring anyone younger than 16 for prostitution or other sexual conduct a felony punishable by 20 years to 50 years in prison. It also would bar defendants from arguing a child consented to the sexual activity.

GOOD NEWS

“Breaking the Chains: Freedom’s Successes” from the CNN Freedom Project. This post looks at some of the stories of freedom that have taken place since CNN Freedom began last March.

Nearly 2,000 people have come out of slavery, either directly or indirectly, as a result of the hundreds of  stories broadcast on air and published online.

“India Launches Anti-Trafficking Unit to Curb Prostitution” from TrustLaw. While I’m tempted to say “It’s about time, India,” I’m excited for what this development may come to mean in this trafficking hub.

This unit will be responsible for collecting, collating and analysing data on kidnapping and abduction of people from all over India. … The unit will also develop actionable intelligence to conduct operations against gangs involved in trafficking, especially of children and women for the purpose of exploitation, such as beggary and prostitution.

“U.S. Official to Assess Human Trafficking in Upcoming Myanmar Visit” from Kuwait News Agency. While I’m sure there’s a hefty does of politics behind this visit, inter-government collaboration can be a powerful force against trafficking.

CdeBaca, Ambassador at Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, will travel on January 9-11 to assess the situation firsthand and to explore ways the Myanmar government can boost anti-trafficking efforts. … Myanmar, also known as Burma, is one of the world’s worst countries for human trafficking, according to the State department’s annual Trafficking of Persons report.

“Nigerian Women Busted for Human Trafficking to be Prosecuted in Nigeria.” Inter-governmental cooperation for higher punishments for traffickers seems like an ugly thing to cheer for, but upping the stakes for traffickers can help protect women and children.

Though the suspects could have been tried here in Ghana, punishment for human trafficking in Nigeria is higher compared to what Ghana’s Criminal Code recommends.

“Auburn Teen Set On Mission To Save Sex Slaves” from wibw.com. Go, Mrriah! And go, Adventures in Missions!

Mrriah Curtis just turned 19 … She is getting ready to travel to Thailand, a hot spot of sex trafficking in Asia, where she wants to reach out to victims and prostitutes.” In junior high, I learned that human slavery is bigger today than it has ever been in history, which I think is insane. It doesn’t even make sense in my mind. That broke my heart.” she said.

“Christian Youth Conference Gives $100,000 To Fight Human Trafficking” from KWTX.com. More teens making a difference! More money to fight trafficking in Atlanta.

The 45,000 Christian students attending this week’s Passion 2012 conference in Atlanta have given $100,000 to the host city to fight child exploitation and sex trafficking. … Mayor Kasim Reed said the money would be used to help Atlanta police combat sex crimes.”

“Man Devoted to Helping Sex Trafficking Victims” from wwmt.com. Another ministry devoted to helping Thailand. Another American dedicated to the cause. It may feel like the same old story, but these same old stories are changing the lives of trafficking victims.

Dave Voetberg travels to Thailand to help with an organization called Abba House. Inside their safe house children and teens who were forced to work as prostitutes in Thailand’s underground sex trade receive free room and board and schooling.

  

A restavek is a child who is usually from a rural area and is sent to live with a family in the city. They go in hopes of a better life and a chance at an education. Instead they become victims of human trafficking, trapped as servants in strangers’ homes. They work from before dawn til late at night doing whatever is asked of them. They are exhausted, hungry, lonely, and abused. This system affects an estimated 300,000 children in Haiti.

The extreme poverty that drives this system is part of what made the earthquake so devastating. 80% of the country lives below the poverty line, and the unemployment rate is 50%.

Restavek Freedom Foundation works in three main ways to end human trafficking in Haiti:

• • Advocate for the education and better treatment of children in restavek.
• • Influence the behaviors and attitudes of biological and host families.
• • Mobilize people in Haiti and around the world to stand up for freedom.

What strikes me as most unique about Restavek’s work is their interaction with biological and host parents. With compassion and understanding, they engage the parents in dialogue and help them to see that the problem of restavek could be demolished if biological parents kept their children or host parents treated all the children in their home as their own.

The Foundation’s blog gives a glimpse of the life-saving work they do with restavek kids, giving voice to the pain the kids feel.

“I live with my aunt, but it is not the kind of life I expected. She’s sometimes kind with me if I have all of my work done. My aunt is not the one who gives me many problems because she’s not there most of the day because she works. Her daughter, however, is really hard on me. She beats me a lot, blames me without any reason. That hurts me. I feel sad and I don’t like when people treat me badly. I feel exhausted living in this condition.” … She said that when she is alone, she often imagines bringing harm to herself, she thinks her life is too much of a mess.

CNN recently made a documentary about Restavek’s work featuring actor and musician Common. You can watch Common Dreams online in six parts.

Find out more on the Restavek Freedom Foundation website and on their Facebook page.

This year at STF, we’re going to take a closer look at what it means to empower women, and how to promote opportunities for women’s health, education, business, and life choice.

While it might seem that focusing on women perpetuates inequality and leaves impoverished men and boys without resources, empowered women empower communities.

When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.

(Chris Fortson, “Women’s Rights Vital for Developing World,” Yale News Daily 2003.)

In the info graphic at the end of this post, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) explains why empowering women is so important.

And The Girl Effect shows the power of 12-year-old girls in this video.

It’s no secret that STF is already in the business of empowering women. All our products are made by women who’ve previously been exploited. They’ve been given extensive job skills training and health care, and they’re paid a fair (often generous) wage.

Around the world people are taking action for women:

• • This journalist in Bangladesh calls for men to band together to bring an end to violence against women.
• • These farming innovations give power to the women who produce over 50% of the world’s food.
• • This interview with Swanee Hunt, founder of Institute for Inclusive Security, explains how women are a vital part of the peace negotiation process.

Throughout the year, we’ll be pointing you in the direction of different ways you can help empower women; but don’t doubt your own creative abilities. Look around you community: Are there women who need literacy training or rides to the doctor? Are there girls who are falling behind in school because they have to care for their siblings during homework time? Are there organizations focused on women who need volunteers?

Data compiled from these sources:

http://sctnow.org/contentpages.aspx?parentnavigationid=5827&viewcontentpageguid=29d295d1-5818-4e7a-bde1-f61690fa44a8

Disposable People by Kevin Bales
Transformations in Slavery by Paul E. Lovejoy

http://www.unodc.org/

http://humantraffickingmovie.com/human-trafficking-statistics.html