Youngsters in California are constantly being charmed and then harmed, into sex trafficking and labor trafficking.   

Human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking, and brings millions of dollars to the traffickers, while they enslave and abuse their victims. This January, Rotary is stepping up to help solve the problem.

Cozette Vergari is heading the project.  Downey Rotarians know her as the District Governor 2016-17.  Cozette is an amazing woman. A member of the State Bar of California, she is trained in mediation, but before her career in law, she made her living in the performing arts, and owned three dance studios.

When she visited Downey in 2017, Cozette told the Rotary Club that her biggest dream and the most daunting project she has ever tackled, is the problem of child sex trafficking, in this District.  “It’s right in your own backyard,” she said. Now Cozette is leading District 5280’s Human Trafficking Task Force, in partnership with Homeland Security. 

The first step in solving a problem like human trafficking is becoming aware of it. Rotary along with the California Rotary Human Trafficking Prevention Campaign, and non-governmental organizations to assist victims, intends to raise awareness during the entire month of January.  

They want to encourage all Californians to help spread the word because Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco are three of the top 10 cities in America with the most reported cases of this criminal activity. Children whose average age is 13 are being used over and over for prostitution, which is now Big Business.

Child exploitation is so much more lucrative than selling drugs ever was, the organized gangs and crime syndicates are finding out.  A drug can only be sold once.  But an enslaved child can be sold over and over a thousand times a year. Young children are being brutalized, while monsters profit in the millions from this exploitation. But, how can there be slavery in our “free” society?

The choice of January comes because the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Lincoln issued on January 1, 1863, declared freedom for 3.1 million enslaved at the time, officially outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. Yet we find that it continues.

The campaign is intended not only to raise awareness, but to plant the seeds of hope for victims and survivors of this horrific injustice and brutality. 

The U.S. State Department reports, of known cases, 96% of the victims are female, 82% are trafficked for sex and 50% of those trafficked are minor children with an average age of 12.  

Labor trafficking involves luring young people into “jobs,” domestic work that turns out to be virtual slavery, or field labor or sweat shops where they cannot escape. 

Rotary is working with C.A.S.T., The Coalition Against Slave Trafficking.  The survivors are seeking a way out, 

and into an environment where they can thrive.  As a nonprofit dedicated to assisting victims of this horrific crime, 

C. A. S. T. provides vocational training for victims of human trafficking, and is open to clients of all nonprofits 

in the Los Angeles region, assisting these survivors.

What can you do locally? Here in Los Angeles, there will be a non-competitive 5K run/walk on Jan. 16 to raise awareness. You can join with ultra-sport athlete, Rob DeCou, who met the Uberman Challenge last October.  

Rob made the 556-mile swim/cycle/run in a one-week triathlon yo raise awareness and funds to assist survivors of human trafficking. He completed a 21-mile swim from Catalina Island to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, then a 400-mile, 48-hour bike ride, to Death Valley, finishing with the 135-mile hike to the Portal of Mr. Whitney, plus another 11 trail miles to its summit.  People supported the cause by pledging dollars for every mile Rob completed.

This January’s run/walk event is easier, and you can join in and contribute by clicking on the link to the website https://rotariansfightinghumantrafficking.org/home. Entry fees and pledges will go toward assisting victims. 

If you suspect human trafficking, don’t confront the traffickers.  You can report it to federal law enforcement by calling 1-800-347-2423.

What more can you do, personally? Tuesday Jan. 11 has been designated as the day to wear blue, to show your support. On #WearBlueDay, the public is invited to take photos of themselves, friends, family, and colleagues wearing blue clothing and share them on social media – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, along with the #WearBlueDay hashtag.