Help Make Slavery History!

VISIT THE SITE Contrary to popular belief, slavery didn’t end with Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Experts estimate that today there are 27 million people enslaved around the world. It’s happening in countries on all six inhabited continents. And yes, that includes the United States. The CIA estimates 14,500 to 17,000 victims are trafficked into the “Land of the Free” every year. Why hasn’t more been done to end a dehumanizing, universally condemned practice? One challenge is that slavery today takes on myriad, subtler forms than it did during the Atlantic Slave Trade — including sex trafficking, debt bondage, forced domestic or agricultural labor, and chattel slavery — making it tougher to identify and eradicate. FAST FACTS Slavery today is defined as forced labor without pay under threat of violence. 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked internationally every year. Approximately 80% of them are women and children. Slavery was officially abolished worldwide at the 1927 Slavery Convention, yet it continues to thrive thanks to the complicity of some governments and the ignorance of much of the world. In the 2000 Refugee Report, “Trafficking in Women and Children: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery,” former secretary of state Madeleine Albright calls human trafficking “the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world.” Slavery is an extremely profitable, international industry. Experts estimate trafficking in the US yields $9 billion every year. Around the world, trafficking in women for commercial sex purposes nets $6 billion per year. The trade of human flesh is so lucrative that authorities complain that even as they close in on one smuggling ring in the US, another one pops up. SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES Biographical Sketch: Micheline Slattery Geography: Massachusetts Micheline Slattery was born to a prominent political family in Jacmel, Haiti, but after being orphaned at age five, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a town nearby. As often occurs among rural families in Haiti, Micheline was forced to work as her extended family’s servant — or restavec, as a child slave is commonly known there. Beginning from the time she was five, Micheline was expected to clean the house, wash and fold the laundry, walk for miles to collect water. If she failed to complete all her chores, for nine years she was whipped and beaten by her relatives; she still bears a scar on her left cheek from the time her cousin struck her across the face with a butcher knife. "I used to think that I was bad, that this was the life that God chose for me," she says. At fourteen, Micheline was trafficked to Connecticut to serve as her cousin’s slave there — performing domestic chores and taking care of her three children. Her cousin permitted her to attend school — but never anywhere else — and at home, she was still a slave; she never received compensation for her work and, when Micheline took a part-time job, her cousin confiscated her wages. It took several years before Micheline was finally able to leave and resettle in Massachusetts, where she works as a nurse. Micheline began speaking out last May. She has testified before the Massachusetts State Assembly, spoken at the International Women’s Day reception in Massachusetts alongside Dr. Swanee Hunt, former US Ambassador to Austria, and been featured by New England Cable News, the Boston Metro, and The Hartford Courant. “It's not something I will ever feel free and comfortable talking about, but I do it because I think it will make a difference,” Micheline says. “I want people to understand that it’s happening. If they need to see a face, see mine.” VISIT THE SITE & please dont forget to click today: The Hunger Site The Breast Cancer Site The Child Health Site The Literacy Site The Rain Forest Site and The Animal Rescue Site Don't forget they have an email reminder service, which allows you to click ALL the sites within about 1 minutes time...aw come on we all have a minute to spare :)