U.S. Advocacy

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Minors in the US is an issue of great need and yet it often continues to go unnoticed and unaddressed.  According to the Trafficking in Persons Victim Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, the commercial sexual exploitation of any minor under the age of 18 is legally a form of human trafficking. Commercial sexual exploitation affects children from all classes, ethnicities, gender, and races. However, girls are disproportionately affected: according to the U.S. Government, 80 percent of the 800,000 people trafficked across borders every year are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors, many of whom were coerced into commercial sexual exploitation (TIP Report 2008). Human traffickers and pimps pray on the vulnerability, lack of knowledge, and desires of American children to lure them into commercial sexual exploitation, most commonly prostitution and pornography. In the U.S., the number of youth victims of commercial sexual exploitation is unknown but a 2001 study found that between 200,000 and 300,000 youths are at serious and high risk of commercial sexual exploitation every year (Weiner and Estes 2001).

Our U.S. Advocacy initiatives include organizing and participating in national conferences, engaging and collaborating with existing anti-trafficking councils and legislative taskforces, and initiating specific actions to address both the demand and effects of commercial sexual trafficking and exploitation in the United States.

Love146 has developed a strategy that focuses on advocacy to prevent child sex trafficking and exploitation. We seek to advocate on behalf of as well as with victims, survivors, and those at-risk of child sex trafficking and exploitation.  Through detailed research and collaboration, Love146 contributes to the modern day abolitionist movement in the US by emphasizing coalition building and partnerships as well as innovative, creative advocacy strategies.

Based on our current experience of U.S. Advocacy, we will leverage the power of already existing networks, building new hubs where necessary, to amplify the voice of the anti trafficking movement in the U.S. This may involve a combination of grassroots level advocacy and training, civic and political campaigning, intensive academic research, and policy recommendations.

U.S. Advocacy initiatives and activities will be supported primarily by our abolitionist platforms, namely our Love146 Taskforce groups, Collective Shout, and Faith Community Network. U.S. Advocacy activities will focus on equipping people to take practical, tangible action against child sex trafficking and exploitation while also expanding Love146’s overall presence and opportunities to provide meaningful input in the United States.