ΓΡΑΦΕΙ: Η ΑΘΗΝΑ-ΓΕΩΡΓΙΑ ΚΟΥΜΕΛΑ.
This is the title of a program running in our school this year. Although it is supported by the American Embassy, it is extremely humane, important and interesting. The title is as representative as it could be: the program is about modern slavery, which flourishes in every part of the planet.
Most people believe that slavery, human trade and commercial exploitation have stopped existing, or at least that they exist under other circumstances and that they are conducted in secrecy and discretion. Wrong. The numbers of the victims are bigger than ever; there are 27 million slaves in the world today. This mechanism is very profitable for the exploiters, since it’s estimated that it brings in about 32 billion dollars per year to them. After all, that’s the incentive: Money.
Human trafficking exists in all fields: begging, trade of body organs, commercial sexual exploitation (of adults or minors), child labor (working in cocoa and cotton fields and in electronic gadgets production), slavery, etc. It encloses all nationalities and ages. The victims usually have experienced harsh situations before their abduction (poverty, lack of education, war, political instability, natural disasters, unstable family environment or family violence, dependence on psychoactive substances, unemployment). Generally, there is no typical victim profile. Everyone could be in their place. The traffickers entice the victims, either with promises of a better life, work, or a better future, in order to take them away from their home, their city, their country, their family, their friends and their acquaintances. What follows is confiscation of their legal documents (passport, identity card, etc.), and after that, the victims are prey to the exploiters and forced to obey, while suffering threats and brutal treatment. Isolation, display and/or use of weapons, psychological or physical violence and reinforcement of the feeling of shame, make the victims live in a constant state of fear, which makes them unable to react, even if they had any means of doing so.
Something else that is really important and has to be clearly stated is that human trafficking happens everywhere: in common homes, in “nice” suburbs, in the center of big cities, in night clubs, in hotels, in restaurants, in fields, in fishing boats, in factories, in construction sites and so on. It’s something that anyone can notice during a simple walk in the city.
But, since we’re talking about trade, if there’s no demand, there’s no need for offer. Therefore, those who seek the products of human trafficking are guilty, too. So, it’s important to seek products with the ?Fair Trade? sign, which ensures that no child labor or any other form of modern slavery was involved in their construction, no sexual exploitation was encouraged, no child labor, no begging, no organ trade, etc.
Also, I want to note that our program reinforces creativity, since we participate with writing, painting, dancing, singing and playing music. (Clear proof that art can exorcise anything.)
For further information:
http://thenoproject.org/english/
http://thenoproject.org/greek/
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/
https://www.freetheslaves.net/SSLPage.aspx
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