The Current
Advocacy News + Updates
TOP STORY
This spring, advocates across the nation rallied together to speak up for the 40 million people trapped in slavery (Global Slavery Index, 2018). As a movement, thousands of you leveraged the power of digital tools to raise your voices to your members of Congress through tweets, emails and online petitions. Together, we urged Congress to ensure that the State Department’s Program to End Modern Slavery and the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Office are fully funded in the 2020 appropriations bill. Here is a breakdown of the momentum you’ve built:
We had the most awesome experience here at IJM headquarters last week. On the morning before President Obama delivered his State of the Union address, IJM sent out an email to our friends and supporters around the U.S., inviting them to sign a letter to President Obama, urging him to exert real leadership to end modern day slavery at home and abroad.
Within a few hours (before the President had even given his address that evening!), several thousand people had signed the letter. At the time of this writing, we have over 24,000 names and more come in every hour.
On January 24, we asked you to let your name stand for freedom by petitioning President Obama to make ending slavery a priority. You may have already signed your nameso how can you help keep this momentum going? Here are a few quick tips for getting the word out about this action:
Email your friends!
If you missed the forward-to-a-friend feature after you signed the letter (or have more friends you want to send this opportunity to!), shoot them a quick email. You can use this sample message to get the word out:
Hello Friends,
On January 17, the state legislature in New Jersey passed a crucial piece of legislation that will aid victims of human trafficking in New Jersey. This billcalled a safe harbor lawis an important step forward in the fight against slavery right here in our own country.
Safe harbor legislation protects minor victims of sex trafficking from being prosecuted for prostitution. This important legislation ensures that victims of trafficking are treated not as criminals, but as survivors of a crime. New Jersey is only the 10th state to pass this type of law.