Media Backgrounder-

Press Contact: Trisha Patterson

/ (503) 804-8923

Overview

International Justice Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to human rights advocacy and education. It is currently the world’s largest anti-slavery organization. Their mission statement is “Rescue thousands. Protect Millions. Prove that justice for the poor is possible.”

  • IJM at WWU is the campus chapter of this organization, and is currently involved in IJM’s Stand For Freedom campaign and organizing a benefit concert to fundraise for IJM.
  • The Stand For Freedom campaign is aimed at educating and engaging college students in the fight to end slavery.
  • The IJM at WWU benefit concert targets students and community members to raise awareness of human trafficking and bring attention to the efforts made to stop trafficking in Whatcom County.
  • IJM at WWU was formed in October 2015. They meet Thursdays at 7 p.m. in Miller 139.
  • Facebook: 91 people like their Facebook page. Twitter: 112 followers.

Current Activities

  • Stand For Freedom campaign: this campaign is culminating on April 13, 2016 with a 24-hour demonstration in WWU’s Red Square. IJM has signed up students to stand in Red Square as a visual action to spread awareness about human trafficking and global slavery.
  • IJM discussed partnering with WWU Changemakers, a social entrepreneurship club on campus to spread local awareness of human trafficking and slavery.
  • Benefit concert: this concert will take place on June 4, 2016. There will be bands, speakers, and videos that show what IJM at WWU is all about.
  • IJM at WWU meets on Thursdays at 7 p.m. in Miller 139.

Key Terms

  • Human trafficking: occurs when a person uses violence, deception or threats of force to coerce another person to provide labor or commercial sex, and to prevent that person from leaving the situation. Human trafficking also occurs when a person recruits, harbors, transports, providers or obtain another person knowing that force, fraud or coercion will be used to exploit the other person for labor or commercial sex.

•Slavery (modern-day definition): Slavery occurs when a person is forced to work - through mental or physical threat; owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse; dehumanized, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property'; physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement. Slavery is outlawed in nearly every country, yet is still prevalent today. Types of slavery include bonded labor, child slavery, early or forced marriage, descent-based slavery, and trafficking.

  • The Locust Effect: this effect takes place when everyday violence prevents the poorest and most disadvantaged groups from rising out of poverty.
  • Labor trafficking: using force, fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, provide or obtain a person for labor or services in involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery.
  • Sex trafficking: Sex trafficking is a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion or in which the person induced to perform such act is under the age of 18.

Facts

Hyper Local

  • Western Students Against Violence: This campus club is dedicated to raising awareness on issues that marginalized individuals, particularly women, face. Closely partnered with Western Empowerment and Violence Education (WEAVE) and addresses issues of systemic enabling of violence and physical violence. (Brown)
  • Western Empowerment and Violence Education (WEAVE): Campus club that advocates against violence in all forms. (Brown)
  • Western Front story: “Local Ties Drawn to Human Trafficking”. Whatcom County is a hot spot for trafficking due to its close proximity to Seattle and the Canadian border. (Campbell)
  • Between 2007 and 2011, the percentage of homeless children in Whatcom County rose 59 percent, and many of those youth are at-risk for trafficking. (Access Freedom)

Local

  • Access Freedom: Access Freedom is a nonprofit based in Whatcom County that advocates for and provides protection for trafficked persons, those who have suffered human rights violations, and at-risk persons. They are a prevention-based organization that works to provide informed awareness and respond to the commercial exploitation of people (particularly children) in Whatcom County. (Access Freedom)
  • Whatcom Coalition Against Trafficking: WCAT's mission is to prevent human trafficking through the establishment of a cohesive network of community partners. (Access Freedom)

Regional

  • Seattle Against Slavery: Group that fights against human trafficking and slavery. Seattle is part of a trafficking circuit that includes Honolulu, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Portland, Vancouver Wash., Yakima, and Canada. (Human Trafficking)
  • In 2003 Washington State was the first state to pass a law criminalizing human trafficking. Washington has the most stringent human trafficking laws in the country. (Attorney General)

National

  • Housekeepers, farmworkers, garment workers, and custodians are among the most common jobs where slavery occurs. (Human Trafficking)
  • 60,000 people live in slavery in the U.S. (Attorney General)
  • An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficking in the U.S. annually, primarily women and children. (Attorney General)
  • The U.S. is primarily a transit and destination country for trafficked persons. (Farrell, Attorney General)

Global

  • By 2020, 1.5 billion of the world’s urban poor will live in informal settlements and slums without secure right to their property. (International Justice Mission, Farrell)
  • One in five women around the world is a victim of rape or attempted rape. (International Justice Mission)
  • Nearly 30 million (approximately 27 million) are held in slavery worldwide. (International Justice Mission)

Biographies

  • President: Natasha Bennett. (360) 631-8720. Natasha is a human services major. She first got involved with IJM at WWU in Spring 2014 after being approached by an IJM investigator who works in Bellingham. He approached her with the idea of starting a club that advocates against human trafficking, and she felt it was her calling to do so.
  • Vice President: Ainsley Gettis. (509) 727-5030. Ainsley is a Woodring student majoring in elementary education. She got involved in IJM atWWU in Winter 2015 after Natasha came to her place of worship and asked for volunteers for the club. She says she has always had a heart for helping others and fighting human trafficking, and IJM at WWU seemed like a good fit.
  • Media Coordinator: Kesia Lee. (425) 941-3095. Kesia is a visual journalism major. Kesia first joined IJM at WWU in Spring 2014. She says she joined because she wants to spend her life fighting slavery and insuring that all people have freedom. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” she says.

Boilerplate

IJM at WWU is the Western Washington University chapter of International Justice Mission. IJM at WWU works to educate Western’s community, promote dialogue about human trafficking and sustain lasting collaborative relationships with the community to end human trafficking and slavery.IJM at WWU is dedicated to social justice and ending slavery through community outreach, coalition building and advancing the mission of International Justice Mission. Natasha Bennett is the current president. They meet on Thursdays at 7 in Miller 139. IJM at WWU can be found on Facebook.

Sources

"Access Freedom." Access Freedom. Accessed April 18, 2016.

"Attorney General." Human Trafficking. Accessed April 18, 2016.

Brown, Rachel, 2013. "Western Student Shares Thoughts On Human Trafficking in Washington State." The Western Front (Bellingham). Accessed April 13, 2016.

Campbell, Megan, 2015. "Local Ties Drawn to Human Trafficking." The Western Front (Bellingham). Accessed April 13, 2016.

Farrell, A., J. McDevitt,R. Pfeffer,S. Fahy, 2012."Identifying Challenges to Improve the Investigation and Prosecution of State and Local Human Trafficking Cases". Finalreport to the National Institute of Justice, NCJ 238795. Accessed April 17, 2016.

"Human Trafficking.":: Washington State Dept. of Health. Accessed April 17, 2016.

"International Justice Mission." International Justice Mission. Accessed April 17, 2016.

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Media Backgrounder, 4/18/16