MALIBU — An event designed to bring awareness to human trafficking will be held at the Malibu United Methodist Church on Saturday, February 1.
The Freedom Road Project, in cooperation with the city of Malibu, will hold the first annual “End Human Trafficking Day” on the same day as National Freedom Day.
The event will last between 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and will be free to all who attend. The group states on their website that they will hold exhibits that highlight the “different trafficking markets such as sexual, labor, child exploitation, slavery and polygamy.”
Because of the nature of these exhibits, the group advises that the event be appropriate for children over the age of 14. In addition, residents will also be able to sign petitions that will be sent to representatives that will reportedly encourage them to “support legislation that helps to end human trafficking now!”
The church is located at 30128 Morning View Drive. To contact the Freedom Road Project, visit FreedomRoadProject@gmail.com or call 310-341-7340.
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, states that there are currently 21 million people being trafficked throughout the world today, with 1.5 million of that number in the United States. Five-and-a-half million children are being trafficked around the world in an underground industry that rakes in over $32 billion in global profits.
“Slavery tears at our social fabric, fuels violence and organized crime, and debases our common humanity,” said President Obama in a December 2013 proclamation. To help combat human trafficking, the National HumanTrafficking Resource Center can be dialed at 888-373-7888 at any time of the year.
