March in Jacksonville against sex trafficking of women – California18

Don Juan Corzo 

Jacksonville, FL.- More than 120 people marched on Saturday, October 15, to the banks of the St. Johns River, downtown Jacksonville, to raise awareness of human sex and labor trafficking, in an event that took place in several cities in the United States and the world.

Carrying signs with messages of hope and courage, as well as several dressed in black, the attendees rejected and at the same time showed solidarity with people who are victims of prostitution or forced labor, which many recognize as ‘modern slavery'.

FIGURES

Although anyone can be a victim of human trafficking, the vast majority are women (71%) sexually exploited and 25 percent of them are minors, according to the A21 organization, a global non-profit organization that combats this problem.

“We do the marches one after the other in silence to symbolize the victims who are alone and have no voice,” said Silvia Almond, representative of Villages of Hope, an organization in Jacksonville that works on the same mission.

Almond, who is Latina, highlighted that in her experience in the United States she has seen that the participation of Hispanics locally on this issue is very low, compared to that of other cities or countries. For example, only four Latinos participated in the march in Jacksonville, of the 129 people who attended.