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Learn How Blue Campaign Is #TacklingTrafficking
Blue Campaign appreciates all of those who participated in #WearBlueDay. You have helped us raise awareness of this terrible crime among your communities and networks — thank you. From January 12 through the end of the month, Blue Campaign will be continuing to use the hashtag #TacklingTrafficking to highlight our latest resources on social media (@DHSBlueCampaign on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) for a variety of audiences. Resources cover topics such as how traffickers operate, how to talk to youth, and how to recognize and respond to suspected trafficking.
Several of Blue Campaign’s free awareness and educational resources are listed below. Share them online, in your workplace and community, and with friends and family to help raise awareness of human trafficking. #TacklingTrafficking takes all of us, and we need your help to end this crime.
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CCHT Updates: CCHT Spearheads DHS-wide Seminar
In recognition of Human Trafficking Prevention Month (HTPM), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Center for Countering Human Trafficking (CCHT) is coordinating two efforts in January to educate DHS employees and highlight Department-wide counter-trafficking efforts.
As a result of the Department’s priority of educating the workforce, the DHS CCHT will again host the 2nd Annual Human Trafficking Seminar as a virtual event on January 24 and 25. The seminar is open to all DHS personnel, with hundreds of DHS special agents, officers, program managers, analysts, victim assistance specialists, forensic interviewers, and others expected to attend. The seminar is an opportunity to cross-train, stay on the cutting edge, and share promising practices related to interagency collaboration and victim-centered, trauma-informed approaches to counter-trafficking. Last year, this event was a success with over 600 personnel in attendance.
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From the Field: HSI Field Offices Commemorate HTPM with Enhanced Outreach, Counter-Trafficking Efforts
While Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) continually conducts human trafficking investigations and outreach to stakeholders, many HSI field offices throughout the country have planned local human trafficking outreach and education events within their areas of responsibility in connection with Human Trafficking Prevention Month. For example:
- HSI Massena, New York, plans to conduct a Strategic Targeted Outreach Program (STOP) Trafficking presentation to staff and members of the Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation. HSI will provide an overview of the victim-centered approach and present on how to recognize and report indicators of human trafficking.
- HSI Honolulu will conduct human trafficking training and outreach on the islands of Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii from January 16-23. The training, which will be provided by HSI agents and survivors of sex trafficking, will be presented to state/local law enforcement, federal and state prosecutors, social workers, service providers, advocates, and NGOs.
- HSI Houston’s Victim Assistance Specialist will again partner with a local chapter of the historic Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated to host a human trafficking community education and awareness event. For the past three years, this event has drawn over 120 attendees, both in-person and virtually.
- HSI New York will conduct a training workshop during the 2023 NYC Child Trafficking Prevention Conference. The audience will include counselors and therapists, school staff, attorneys, law enforcement, child advocacy professionals, medical professionals, and NGO staff. The workshop will focus on domestic and international child sex trafficking, protecting children from online predators, forensic interviews, HSI’s victim-centered approach, and overcoming investigative challenges.
In addition to outreach and education, many HSI offices are planning additional anti-trafficking enforcement operations throughout January to prevent, detect, and investigate sex and labor trafficking in their local areas. For more information on HSI’s counter human trafficking investigations throughout the year, click here.
U.S. bans Dominican sugar company over forced labor (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced an import ban on one of the world’s largest producers of sugar, Central Romana. The company, based in the Dominican Republic, has a 30-year history of using child labor, and now faces additional allegations of forced labor and inhumane working conditions.
DHS Blue Campaign: Recognizing and Responding to Human Trafficking
For National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the DHS’s Blue Campaign invites you to attend one of our webinars on recognizing and responding to potential cases of human trafficking. Members of the public are invited to attend this webinar where representatives from Blue Campaign will provide an overview of what human trafficking is, the indicators, how to report a suspected human trafficking situation, and available resources to raise awareness in your communities. The dates and times of the webinars are as follows:
- Register for Session 2: Tuesday, January 17, 2023, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST
- Register for Session 3: Tuesday, January 24, 2023, 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST (Offered in Spanish only)
We look forward to your attendance!
DHS Blue Campaign: Human Trafficking Youth Forum
Caretakers and adults who work with youth are invited to join DHS Blue Campaign for a virtual forum on human trafficking and youth. Hear from Blue Campaign, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, National Human Trafficking Hotline – Polaris, and Love146 to learn how to talk to youth about online safety, gain knowledge of human trafficking trends and how they affect the youth population, and increase awareness of available resources for youth victims and individuals working with youth. The webinar will take place January 31, 2023, 10 a.m. – 4:15 p.m. EST.
To learn more or register, visit: bit.ly/3iN8mgq
The DHS PROTECT Campus Symposium: Human Trafficking on College Campuses
DHS’s Blue Campaign and HSI invite you to join our Partnership for Response-Oriented Training and Education to Counter Trafficking on campus (PROTECT), a no-cost one-day symposium on human trafficking and college campuses in recognition of National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Attendees will hear from a panel of human trafficking experts working in a variety of fields, all with one goal in common: to help combat this horrific crime and protect victims. The symposium will take place in-person on January 23, 2023. The student and faculty session will run from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. CST at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. More info to come on the morning session for public safety and law enforcement.
Registration for students and faculty: bit.ly/3Wggvst
For more information visit the Blue Campaign
To report suspected human trafficking: 1-866-347-2423
To get help from the National Human Trafficking Hotline: 1-888-373-7888
or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733)
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