Congresswoman Beatty Marks National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Congresswoman Beatty Marks National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

January 11, 2018, is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. In conjunction with the observance of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03), a longtime advocate for human trafficking victims issued the following statement:

"Right now, there are 20.5 million people trapped in human trafficking globally according to the International Labor Organization, and it is up to Congress to better protect victims and those most vulnerable to human trafficking. Ending such heinous crimes starts with all of us—if you see something, say something. The federal government must work tirelessly to keep up the funding to fight against these inhumane and criminal acts. That is why on Human Trafficking Awareness Day, and every day, I ask you to join in the fight to finally put an end to the scourge of human trafficking."

Throughout Beatty's Congressional tenure, she has worked with Democratic and Republican colleagues to combat human trafficking. In fact, Beatty's bipartisan anti-child sex trafficking legislation unanimously passed in the House of Representatives and was later signed into law as part of a larger measure, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA) (P.L. 114-22), by former President Obama on May 29, 2015. This year, she introduced The Human Trafficking Accountability Act, H.R. 3304, a bill seeking to improve the coordination and federal prosecution of human trafficking, and she cosponsored another bipartisan anti-human trafficking bill.