Mar
2017
The Face of Portland’s Human Trafficking Resistance: Abolition Now
Local and State effort to end Human trafficking
“Abolition Now” is a Portland based human trafficking organization promoting advocacy, aftercare, awareness, prevention, and outreach. They rely on those five pillars to conduct themselves in a consistent and caring manner. Here’s how they all break down:
- Advocacy – “Advocacy seeks to change policy by creating and changing laws, affecting public opinion, and strengthening the community factors and judicial systems that will deter trafficking.”
- Aftercare – “Aftercare programs attempt to address both the immediate and long- term needs of each victim of trauma. These services may include residential facilities, medical and mental health care, education, job training and economic development programs.”
- Awareness – “Organizations that focus on awareness are seeking to educate the public on the scope of human trafficking locally or internationally. Awareness is based upon the premise that you need to know the problem to solve it.”
- Prevention – “Effective action to prevent trafficking in persons requires a comprehensive approach, including measures to prevent trafficking, to protect victims of such trafficking and to prosecute traffickers.”
- Outreach – “Strictly speaking organizations that focus on rescue are those groups that actively work to free victims from slavery.”
In addition to their five pillars, their motto, “Get informed and get involved,” is very important to their vision as a human trafficking awareness group! They believe that these pillars cannot be erected in communities without being informed and without being involved. Abolition Now prides themselves on their devotion to the Christian faith, which drives much of their work. Although their advocacy is heavily religious based, their reach is commendable. They work locally, nationally, and internationally with NGO’s and government programs consistently and productively. In addition to being connected to the church they connect groups of organizations, churches, and even government groups that work together to end human trafficking. Abolition Now is the face and central force that drives these organizations and keeps them interconnected. They encourage everyone in every community to get involved. They are located in Portland but also work with statewide, nationwide, and global agencies to ensure progress and social change.
Abolition Now: How They Started and Why They Exist
The organization of churches and other advocacy groups took hold in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2011 that they officially came together as Abolition Now. In between the inception and official networking of the web of advocacy groups, the Adorned in Grace Bridal Shop was opened in 2010 which raises funds and awareness for the prevention of human trafficking. Their existence in Portland can be attributed to its vile reputation of being a sex trafficker’s dream. There are reports of men, women, and youth being trafficked, rescued, or killed because of trafficking every single day in the Portland area and across Oregon. Their existence is necessary to save lives, rebuild those who have been abused, and to break the cycle of human trafficking in Portland and Oregon in general.
Portland/Oregon Human Trafficking Statistics
Although Abolition Now focuses on sex trafficking, there is a small number of labor trafficking reported. In 2016, there were over 300 calls made to report human trafficking and 72 cases opened. The number 72 may seem small, but the cases opened often involve multiple people, across multiple ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds. For the privacy of those individuals this information is not recorded publically. https://humantraffickinghotline.org/state/oregon
Like previously stated, sex trafficking makes up a majority of cases in Oregon.
In instances of reporting, community members and victims top the chart for callers.
Abolition Now is coming to campus!
Want more ways to get involved? Follow Abolition Now on Twitter! Twitter: @AbolitionNowPDX
Or visit their website to browse their affiliates! http://abolitionnow.com/
http://abolitionnow.com/get-informed/events
ranu
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