Grassroots Projects Expose Sex Trafficking and Call for Action

Since Rev. In Jin Moon’s informative sermon on the tragedy of sex-trafficking on August 21, 2011, Unificationists across the nation have taken her message to heart and taken action in their communities.

Sex trafficking will be the topic of Indiana Deputy Attorney General Abigail Kuzma’s talk at a conference organized by Lovin’ Life church members at the Lovin’ Life church in Indianapolis on Dec. 8, 2011. Bruce Smith, a lay minister for Lovin’ Life Ministries in Indianapolis, tells Familyfed.org that “the recent Newsweek cover story on the epidemic of sex addiction simply underscores the internet bombardment of sexualized images that fuels the appetite of porn addicts.” Smith added: Of course, pornography facilitates prostitution, which is what sex trafficking is all about. It really is tragic, as we approach the Christmas holidays, that so many young women in Indiana are stuck in the dangerous and dead-end life of sex trafficking. Deputy Attorney General Kuzma on Thursday will talk about what lawmakers and citizens can do to reverse this modern- day slavery.”

Sarah Canak, a university student in Reno, Nevada, organized in September a ground-breaking seminar on sex-trafficking at the University of Nevada in Reno. At Original Substance of the Divine Principle seminars in Las Vegas (in October) and in Atlantic City (in November) scores of church members and ministers from many states registered for the Interfaith Coalition Against Sex Trafficking. Since then, church members in New Jersey and New York recently met with federal authorities to get guidance on public affairs events in their respective states.

In the San Francisco Bay area, the Bay Area Family Church in San Leandro will feature a breakfast program on Dec. 17, 2011 featuring Vietnamese immigrant Daphne Phung, founder of California Against Slavery. Bay Area faith communities to fight human trafficking - San Francisco Spirituality | Examiner.com www.examiner.com/spirituality-in-san-francisco/bay-area-faith-communities-to-fight- human-trafficking#ixzz1fnJhYPk4

Phung will talk about her efforts not only to strengthen California’s laws to help communities and law enforcement professionals fight this modern day form of slavery, but also to improve the treatment that trafficked survivors receive as they attempt to navigate a justice system that is often

frighteningly labyrinthine and biased against them.

As reported by Laurie Snyder, Spirituality Examiner for Examiner.com, “After watching MSNBC Dateline’s Sex Slaves in America, Phung was devastated to learn that trafficked victims suffer further injustice through our legal system. After grappling with how a just God and a free nation can allow such injustice, she concluded that we as a nation have not grasped how slavery can still exist today when we outlawed it 150 years ago. She believes that our laws must reflect the atrocity of human trafficking and that it’s time for the American public to recognize that slavery still exists in our great nation. God uses people to change the world. And the idea of an initiative came about.”

The following text is quoted from Snyder’s story in Examiner.com

Like slaves on an auction block waiting to be selected, victims of human trafficking have to perform as they are told or risk being beaten.

Credits: Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department. Copyright 2005. Permission granted by the photographer.

“Recent estimates place the number of women and young girls that have been forced into sexual slavery worldwide at a staggering number – 1,000,000. One million.

“Some of the women and girls are being spirited into the United States, but many have been lured from American communities by criminals masquerading as prospective employers.

“Sadly, sexual slavery has now become more profitable than the drug trade, and has achieved its distinction as the second largest type of crime worldwide by damaging the bodies and souls of many who were just hoping to create a better life for themselves or their families.

“In one of its most visible advocacy operations, California Against Slavery is collaborating with the Safer California Foundation to place The Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act (“CASE” Act) at californiaagainstslavery.org/petition/ on a future ballot for statewide vote. This initiative would lengthen prison terms for human traffickers and increase fines to as much as $1.5 million for offenders in order to fund services for the victims of these predators.

“Additionally, the initiative would mandate training for law enforcement professionals to help them better identify, respond to and, ultimately, prevent human trafficking in their communities. If passed, the ballot

measure would also require that traffickers register as sex offenders, remove California’s current requirement that those prosecuting trafficking crimes prove that force was used with cases involving the trafficking of minors, and prohibit the use of a victim’s sexual history to impeach the testimony given by those who have experienced the trafficking first hand.

“Phung is inviting people of all faiths and personal growth traditions to attend the upcoming program and actively take part in the dialogue about ways that Bay Area residents can work together to eradicate the atrocity of human trafficking and restore hope for those whose lives have been forever altered by mental and physical anguish.

“The program will be held from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Bay Area Family Church, which is located at 2305 Washington Avenue in San Leandro. A $5 donation is being requested from participants to help defray event costs.