At Love Justice International, we inherently believe that every human being is created in the image of God and therefore has intrinsic, infinite, priceless value ... regardless of nationality, financial status, or background.
Nothing separates any of us from that infinite value because we’re all created in the image of God. So while we are motivated and compelled by God’s love to fight this horrific injustice of human trafficking, we realize this is NOT a universal sentiment.
It is important to both address and understand that in many parts of the world, there is a hierarchy of human value. These different systems around the world (e.g., caste systems in Asia) have various ways of determining who is valuable and who is not in society.
In many places across the globe, selling someone becomes a viable financial opportunity for an individual who has grown up in a culture that doesn’t value that particular type of person. It's also difficult for most of us to comprehend that in many trafficking situations there is a desperation of poverty that makes millions of people more vulnerable to these types of deception.
That is where we step in. We take a stand in the places where governments are failing their people, where the judicial system is not enforcing laws, and where there is no force of will to stand in the way. That’s where we are working to convince people of value that they don’t necessarily see.
The prevalence of human trafficking
- The reality of human trafficking is hard to wrap our minds around for two reasons:
First, we aren’t exposed enough to the horror and the reality of the lives of slaves. We can’t empathize or understand what they go through because we are often ignorant of it entirely. - Second, the scale of trafficking is so extremely large, that it can be easy to mark off as too big of a problem for us to do anything about. The most recent consensus is that more than 50 million people live in slavery around the world today. That is more slaves in the world than ever before. Much of the slavery is consolidated in Asia and Africa. But if the slaves were equally distributed across humanity around the globe, that means approximately 1 in every 200 people would be a slave!
This is staggering, but this is true. We believe human trafficking is one of the greatest injustices of our time. And we are committed to helping end it.
What is human trafficking?
We define human trafficking as moving someone into slavery. Evidence of trafficking exists when a person does not have the power to refuse work. Trafficking victims are subjected to the worst forms of exploitation, and they are robbed not only of the fruit of their labor but also of all the rights and freedoms that human beings are endowed with by nature. The inhumanity of the abuse, the violent and destructive nature of the crime, and the sheer volume of the problem lead us to believe that human trafficking is one of the greatest injustices in the world today.
Clearly, human trafficking is a stark violation of human rights. It is illegal everywhere. However, there are pockets of the world where people trade in slaves with impunity, where the financial incentives are greater than the risks.
How do we fight human trafficking?
There are two main anti-trafficking strategies used around the world. The first is prevention through education and awareness, and the second is rescue. The prevention strategy is limited because it is difficult to track impact, since we cannot know for sure whether any particular individual was prevented from being trafficked. On the other hand, the anti-human trafficking strategies that do have a tangible effect (such as rescue and aftercare) fail to prevent, and can never erase, the horrible trauma that trafficking victims face. Furthermore, the rehabilitation process is extremely difficult. To fight human trafficking, Love Justice sits right in the middle of these two strategies—using our transit monitoring method.
Transit monitoring focuses on identifying and assisting potential victims of trafficking as they're being trafficked but before they reach the destination where they may be in danger of being exploited and enslaved. We “intercept” someone when we have good reason to believe that they are in the process of being trafficked or at high risk of being trafficked.
This model aims to attack trafficking at the most strategic moment—while it is in the process of occurring but before potential victims have been exploited or enslaved. Transit monitoring is, as far as we know, the world’s only tangible human trafficking prevention model.
Every life is beautiful and worth fighting for
How can you get involved?
We invite you to join us in this mission to honor life and fight for justice. We are excited to announce starting April 24 and running through May 15 several generous donors have agreed to match all donations up to $250,000. Here's how you can get involved:
- Join Project Beautiful, our community of monthly donors committed to the fight against human trafficking. Just $29 a month helps keep one more life free from slavery every year. As a Project Beautiful member, you'll receive exclusive updates from our anti-trafficking work in the field and a unique One Life bracelet representing a life you helped keep free from trafficking.
- Visit here to give a one-time gift.
Recently, LJI founder and CEO, John Molineux shared, “But far from being content with the progress we have made to this point in time, we are desperate to increase our impact, intentionally obsessed with the ones we have been unable to save.”
Will you join us in this crucial fight stop slavery and honor life? Because every life is beautiful and worth fighting for.
*All data and statistics current at the date and time of publishing. Names changed, and some specific locations excluded for privacy and security purposes.
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