NOT HERE Presents: The Governor’s Summit on Human Trafficking
November 12 & 13, 2015
The Countdown: 88 Days Remaining
August 4th began our 100 day countdown leading up to The Governor’s Summit on Human Trafficking in Maine. Over these 100 days, we will be sharing a fact, a resource, or a perspective each day, to raise awareness, encourage discussion, and inspire action against injustice, both domestically, and globally.
Today’s Featured Fact:
More than 700 million women alive in the world today were married before their 18th birthday. More than one in three (about 250 million) were married before their 15th birthday. ¹
Why is this a problem?
Child brides are denied not only their childhood, but typically their education as well. Without a proper education, they face limited (at best) opportunities for employment, and end up trapped in a cycle of intergenerational poverty that leaves their own children vulnerable to exploitation as well. Child brides are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and early pregnancies. Child brides are less likely to receive proper medical care during their pregnancies.¹
¹ United Nations Children’s Fund, Ending Child Marriage: Progress and prospects, UNICEF, New York, 2014
Do YOU want to KNOW more?
Read the report from UNICEF: Ending Child Marriage
Watch Memory Banda’s TED talk: A Warrior’s Cry Against Child Marriage
We invite you to like us on facebook, follow us on twitter, and share these resources in your social networks to help us raise awareness that yes, human trafficking DOES happen in Maine AND around the globe, and EVERYONE needs to be involved to stop it.
Looking for more information on The Governor’s Summit on Human Trafficking?
Stay tuned! Registration information for the Summit will be coming VERY soon!