Mayor Janice S. Mironov, joined by Womanspace Executive Director Patricia Hart and Township Chief of Police Harry Marshall, issued a mayoral proclamation recognizing January as “Human Trafficking Awareness Month.”
Womanspace, the lead non-profit organization in Mercer County that provides crisis intervention and support for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, offers support and services for survivors of human trafficking.
Mayor Mironov expressed “the need for all public officials and citizens to be sensitive to these important human abuse issues which occur not only far abroad but also closer to home in areas of our own nation. Again, Womanspace is out there as an advocate for and local resource of support and assistance to survivors of human trafficking.”
The proclamation expresses the need “to raise awareness about the signs and consequences of human trafficking, to promote reporting mechanisms and opposition to human trafficking in all forms, and to . . . restore freedom and dignity to its survivors.” It further states that the, “Township of East Windsor is resolved to support the goals and ideals of observing a National Month of Human Trafficking Awareness each year to support all efforts by individuals, businesses, organizations, and governing bodies to raise awareness of and opposition to Human Trafficking.”
The proclamation recognizes that “human trafficking is a borderless crime against individuals that violates the most basic human rights and deprives victims of every shred of personal freedom. The United Nations’ International Labour Organization has estimated that 12.3 million adults and children worldwide are in forced labor, bonded labor, or forced prostitution of whom approximately 80 percent are women and girls and 50 percent younger than age 18.”
