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January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and, as we kick off the new year, we are excited to share that this month marks the 20th anniversary of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. This act enacted many protections for survivors of human trafficking and set the ground work for prosecutors to bring perpetrators to justice. Since the TVPA was passed, there have been many initiatives released in support of preventing human trafficking. For example, the Blue Campaign, created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is a national safety awareness campaign designed to educate the country about the indicators of and how to respond effectively to human trafficking cases. This campaign is a collaborative effort and leverages partnerships with various stakeholders who are concerned with human trafficking. Although human trafficking is observed throughout the entire month, it is important to note that January 11 was Human Trafficking Awareness Day and was commemorated by wearing blue clothing and posting pictures on social media with the hashtag
#WearBlueDay.
Additionally, it is important to note that human tracking is considered an adversarial and human-caused threat. As such, the REMS TA Center Website has a dedicated page with resources from Federal partners on how to plan for and respond to these types of threats within schools and school districts. The page also includes a Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation link to identify resources specifically related to these topics. The Web page can be accessed here.
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