Elba Council adopts proclamation for human trafficking awareness

During the Dec. 12th meeting of the Elba City Council, Mayor Tom Maddox presented a proclamation recognizing the month of January to be Human Trafficking Awareness Month in the City of Elba.

In presenting the proclamation, the mayor said, “fighting human trafficking is a shared responsibility.”

Alabama's Human Trafficking Awareness Month was first established in January 2011 in observance of National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, to proclaim equality and freedom of all people, to advocate for legislation, to educate leaders and to encourage public awareness to the various forms of human trafficking. According to the proclamation, human trafficking occurs when an adult or child is recruited, harbored, obtained, or exported through force, fraud or coercion for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, involuntary servitude, debt bondage, and other methods of slavery.

“Anyone can become a victim of trafficking,” Mayor Maddox said. “While women and girls are the primary victims, victims/survivors come from every background, race, gender, sexual orientation, and economic status. Traffickers target individuals who, for any reason, are vulnerable.

Even though awareness of this crime is growing, human trafficking continues to go unreported due to its isolating nature, the misunderstanding of its definition, and the lack of awareness about its indicators.

“Increased community education is how to identify victims of human trafficking along with increased knowledge of local resources and services for those affected by these criminal actions can help restore freedom and dignity to identified survivors,” Maddox said. “It also can help diminish the number of future victims.”