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Are we hearing the sound of freedom? “It is the weakest and least powerful that are affected first when freedom is taken away” Can we honestly and openly address the global crime of children being abducted and trafficked? This is what 'The Sound of Freedom' movie has brought attention to, on an ongoing issue taking place right before our eyes, human trafficking and modern-day slavery. The movie is based on the story of activist Tim Ballard, a former DHI involved in capturing pedophiles, who started an organization OUR, Operation Underground Railroad. This should be the most important topic that concerns us all as it has to do with our most precious vulnerable and innocent among us, our children. According to Save the Children (In Connecticut), child trafficking refers to the exploitation of girls and boys, primarily for forced labor and sexual exploitation. The most vulnerable children, are the refugees and migrants, being preyed upon and their hopes for an education, a better job, or a better life in a new country. Children are often trafficked for sexual exploitation or for labor, to become slaves in agricultural work, factory work and mining (which has to do with rare metals for the batteries of electric cars). They can also be forced to fight in countries conflicts or smuggle drugs. Millions of Children are abducted and trafficked each year, children can be ordered, but not for parents to adopt and raise them. Smuggled over the border and Homeless children are scooped up to be harvested for body parts. 25 million (some say up to 50 million) a year are subject to Human Trafficking. Child Sex Trafficking and Forced Labor is a 150 billion-dollar yearly business in over 148 countries, few are exempt. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/03/fact-sheet-the-national-action-plan-to-combat-human-trafficking-nap/ Over half of all people living in modern slavery are in G20 countries, these countries help fuel enslavement by importing products and supplies reliant on forced labor. The International Labour Organisation ("ILO") estimates in 2022 that there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally - 49.6 million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, of which 27.6 million were in forced labor and 22 million in forced marriage. 85,000 children have gone missing just this year alone in our country alone. Many of these undocumented children were held in Immigration Detention Centers after they came over the border. (good statistics on America )
A US
Department of Health and Human Services
(“HHS”) whistle-blower, Tara Lee Rodas testified before
Congress’s House Judiciary Committee on 26 April 2023
. The damning testimony by Rodas who was had volunteered to help with Operation Artemis , a plan by the Biden Administration to get control of the humanitarian disaster on the US-Mexico border in 2021, provided some damaging statements about the outcomes for children in the border crisis mess. (her testimony on twitter, alternative link HERE .) I thought I was going to help place children in loving homes. Instead, I discovered that children are being trafficked through a sophisticated network that begins with recruiting in home country, smuggling to the US border, and ends when ORR delivers a child to a sponsor – some sponsors are criminals and traffickers and members of transnational criminal organisations, some sponsors view children as commodities and assets to be used for earning income. The article also noted that according to data from US Customs and Border Protection , approximately 345,000 minors have crossed into the United States unaccompanied since President Joe Biden took office, while a report from the New York Times suggests that the Department of Health and Human Services has lost contact with 85,000 of these minors. Our society is imploding from the extensive use of social media that is a major platform in facilitating child exploitation The crime of human trafficking does not necessarily require smuggling. A victim can be recruited and trafficked where they live, or even their own homes through social media. Joseph Sweeney founder of The Asservo Project is about making the public aware and fighting child trafficking, “The United States is the biggest consumer… of child pornography in the world.” the main platform for the child sex trafficking crisis in America is social media. “The entire industry [is] driven by money,” he said, “it’s very lucrative… We hunt predators every day out there online,” and predators are constantly searching. “They coerce or groom kids into sharing these things, pretending to be somebody else.” So “now the demand side of it has increased,” Sweeney stated. The Asservo project involved in rescue efforts to help save trafficked children and young adults and to educate and raise awareness about the increasing exploitation of children. The average age of a trafficked child is 14 years old, though some are as young as nine or ten. Children account for 27% of all the human trafficking victims worldwide, and two out of every three child victims are girls. Grace Forrest, the founder and director of Walk Free (formed in 2011), publishing Global Slavery Index emphasized the need to combat trafficking and slavery. Her revealing statement June 16 on the release of the Global Slavery Index "Modern slavery permeates every aspect of our society," "It is woven through our clothes, lights up our electronics, and seasons our food. At its core, modern slavery is a manifestation of extreme inequality. It is a mirror held to power, reflecting who in any given society has it and who does not. Nowhere is this paradox more present than in our global economy through transnational supply chains." According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline based in the United States: Human trafficking occurs when a trafficker uses force, fraud or coercion to control another person for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts or soliciting labor or services against his/her will. There are many myths about human trafficking such as it exclusively involves transporting victims across state/provincial or national borders – which is really human smuggling. This can’t be diminished or stopped without the cooperation of government agencies. What can we as citizens do besides supporting those on the front lines. Keep the conversation on it public, insist the news cover it. What happens when children are freed, how do they do deal with the psychological and physical damage they experienced. This is why the best solution is prevention before it takes place. The children have too few advocates. When evil is known to take place and few speak up what will become of them, or us. Those who promote open border policies are part of the problem, we cannot be complacent on this child holocaust taking place. Rev.18:3 Scripture tells us this will end when Babylon is destroyed. We see all the nations participate enriching themselves who enjoyed her merchandise which includes the bodies and souls of men and women. This describes human trafficking, or something even worse. (Robertson's Word Pictures in the New Testament says slaves, "human livestock”) Notice it distinguishes bodies and the souls of men. It is not that far out of reach to see body parts and souls being sold as mankind enters an advance technological age unlike any other. This should be a sobering pause as the world has no principles on these matters now, what will it become in the time of utter lawlessness. My conclusion Is the movie controversial? Indeed yes! The pushback has been enormous from the news media. Some claim child-trafficking/slavery is nonexistent or that the claims of how extensive this is, are exaggerated. Despite all the facts from those directly involved in preventing it even our government. People go missing, more than 340,000 juveniles, according to the data, over 209 thousand girls went missing last year in the USA. Are children being snatched by strangers off the street, of course a percentage is, but this is not the only way (remember all the pictures of children gone missing printed on milk carton’s), and what of Jeffrey Epstein’s Island that have lured and solicited young girls that has been a quiet secret among the rich and elite? Certainly, those involved that are making money directly and indirectly do not like the publicity. Strange occurrences are being reported, interviews being pulled off certain websites, as some have reported the lights are left on in the theater, or there is no AC. This is making the situation more than physically uncomfortable for those who go to see it, it has become very uncomfortable to people’s conscience that don’t want to see it. Some have reacted harshly with no restraint, even viciously by their words and articles. Conspiracy theories seem to be popping up everywhere. The actors involved should not discount the story, which is supported by numerous organizations that are involved in everyday rescue operations. Like any Hollywood movie, there will be embellishments in what is supposed to be based on a true story, (by the same people that produced the Jesus Revolution, and the Chosen) the question is, how many embellishments? There should be no doubt this is exposing real-life child abuse but many who criticize it seem to soften the side of child trafficking by their complaints (valid or not) on the movie. They say ‘There is nothing to see here’, Seems to me ‘thou protest too much.’ and too loud to be taken seriously against these blatant criminal acts. Websites with more info- https://gfems.org/ https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/definitions_trafficking.pdf https://www.walkfree.org/news/2022/50-million-people-worldwide-in-modern-slavery/
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