Practical Tips | Talk to Officials

Human trafficking is an enormous problem. It plagues every nation in the world, traffickers fly under the radar, and it causes trauma that lasts a lifetime. Looking at all of these factors, it's easy to become overwhelmed. Often, people will become convinced that individuals don’t have anything to offer to work against this problem. Thankfully, this simply isn't true! Everyone has something to offer and every helping hand counts. To help all of our individual advocates, we have started a series with some practical tips on how to join the work against trafficking!

Today's tip for the individual advocate: Contact your Elected Officials!

While working with and supporting anti-human trafficking organizations is a vital part of the work against trafficking, advocating for policy that protects and supports survivors is also a crucial aspect. When survivors escape their trafficking situations, they often face a plethora of legal issues. Not to mention the fact that traffickers are notoriously difficult to prosecute due to the hidden nature of trafficking. Telling your elected officials about administrative ways to support survivors can help create solutions to these problems. Ohio, especially, has some noticeable gaps in our policies that help survivors. For example, the current expungement program requires a previous criminal charges that are common for survivors of sex trafficking, but are incredibly uncommon for survivors of labor trafficking. Contacting our officials and pushing for change is a critical part of this work!