One organization I send a lot of money to is the International Justice Mission. They are dedicated to ending human trafficking and exploitation through a novel approach: unlike the typical NGO scream (think Human Rights Watch), they build cases against the abusers using local laws.
Indeed, slavery is a major, global problem—and the biggest it’s been in world history. Humans make up a not-insignificant part of the multi-billion dollar global shadow economy, which systematically undermines states as it trades in illegal goods.
Don’t think we’re immune just because we’re wealthy and Western. The UK has a big problem with girls being forced into marriages, and tens of thousands are hijacked for slavery in the U.S. every year.
Groups like IJM can help. Their donation page is here.
Indeed, it is still a big problem. I’m not sure I agree with the biggest in world history claim, but that’s irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Most people probably don’t know that slavery and human trafficking still exist at all, much less understand the scale at which it goes on in this day and age. I applaud your calling attention to it.
It’s probably a bit tacky to do this, but since you raised the topic I’ll go ahead and plug a charity that’s specifically devoted to child trafficking: the Charity Network Inc., which happens to be a client of mine. They do great work, and I highly recommend checking them out.
Anyway, good post, Josh. Thanks for bringing it up.
Take another look at IJM – http://youtube.com/watch?v=ilCM_XaAjck look at what they are doing.