According to the United States Department of State, modern slavery is a crime, which includes forced and bonded labor, migrant labor debt bondage, sex or human trafficking, involuntary domestic servitude and child soldiering. Human trafficking, or the trafficking in persons is when someone obtains or holds a person in compelled service. According to the United Nations, human trafficking is a form of modern slavery that subjects women, children, and men to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation or forced labor.
NEXUS members Melissa Jane Kronfield, Diana Mao, and Patrick Gage, have launched the NEXUS Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Working Group (HTMS) in 2014 to combat this issue head on. They have done this by leveraging the unique skills, talents, and access of the NEXUS Youth Summit members to change domestic and international policy, promote partnerships among civil society and governments, and explore social impact investment opportunities in this space.
The HTMS working group has brought information to bridge knowledge gaps about human trafficking to their many Summits. By inspiring next generation donors and investing in high impact solutions that address the root causes in human trafficking, HTMS is leading the way towards an end to human trafficking in modern times.
Not only does HTMS focus on bringing awareness to the issue but also actively creates progress by focusing on aiding the victims in any way they can. Providing medical and psychological care to the victims while getting their stories heard by high government officials, is essential to the main concerns of the HTMS working group. The treatment process is extensive yet the HTMS team works at an accelerated level to create a lasting impact on those affected by human trafficking.
To date, Kronfield, Mao, and Gage have hosted over three years of weekly information conference calls featuring more than 135 sessions and over 150 different speakers focused on how people can and will end modern slavery in our lifetime.
If you are inspired to get involved or would like to learn about more, click here. The HTMS working group is off for the summer months of July and August and begins again in September.
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