Anti-Trafficking International estimates human trafficking is a $150 billion a year industry worldwide, and with more than 40 million people currently enslaved to labor, Anne Basham says it is an epidemic.
"Of the 40 million who are enslaved around the world, one in four are children, and that's globally," Basham details. "Every 30 seconds a person is sold into slavery. And here in the United States … one in five children will be approached by a trafficker before their 18th birthday."
Though many end up in the sex trade, generally from ages 12 to 15, the problem, Basham says, is a solvable one.
"We want all of those statistics to change, and one of the best ways to do that is to really equip children, to equip parents, and to equip those on the front lines with awareness and … a knowledge of what to do," she submits.
Anti-Trafficking International is currently educating about a quarter million young people and their parents per year on how they may be groomed for slave labor and sex trafficking.
