Each year, the crime of human trafficking violates the human rights\u00a0of\u00a0approximately 5,000 local adults and children\u00a0and costs the San Diego economy $800 million dollars.\u00a0On Saturday, Jan. 13, at 1 p.m. the\u00a0Junior League of San Diego\u00a0will march alongside community members in Balboa Park to bring the issue out of the shadows at its fifth annual Human Trafficking Awareness Rally.
\n\u00a0Human trafficking involves exploitation in many forms, from forcing people into prostitution to subjecting them to slavery or involuntary servitude. Sadly, the FBI names\u00a0San Diego as one of the 13 areas with the highest rates of child sex trafficking\u00a0in the nation\u00a0\u2013 and children who\u00a0are homeless or in the foster care system are especially vulnerable.\u00a0Sex trafficking is also San Diego\u2019s second largest underground economy after drug trafficking, representing an estimated $810 million in annual revenue.
\n“Human trafficking affects men, woman and children in San Diego at a rate that shocks many residents,” says Rachel Scatizzi Thompson, Junior League of San Diego president. “At this rally, we\u2019ll offer a glimpse into the stories of victims and empower participants with the knowledge they need to take a stand against this problem that remains hidden all too often.”
\nAs marchers gather at Balboa Park, experts on\u00a0human trafficking will teach the crowd how to recognize the signs of victims being held captive and how to get involved in anti-trafficking efforts in the region. Speakers will include\u00a0San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan,\u00a0Assemblymember Brian Maienschein,\u00a0Free to Thrive president and managing attorney Jamie Quient\u00a0and\u00a0Saved in America executive director and private investigation manager Joseph Travers. Each of these leaders\u00a0empowers survivors of human trafficking and will provide insight on the issue in San Diego and beyond.
\nAs the Junior League of San Diego continues the fight against human trafficking, it thanks the following community partners for their work and participation in the Human Trafficking Awareness Rally:\u00a0The Anti Trafficking Liaison Center for Justice & Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University;\u00a0The Salvation Army;\u00a0Alabaster Jar Project; and the\u00a0San Diego County District Attorney\u2019s Office.\u00a0\u00a0
\nParticipants will gather at the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street in Balboa Park. This is a free event and sponsorships are available. Community members are invited to share their reasons for marching on social media using #jlsdforchange.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Each year, the crime of human trafficking violates the human rights\u00a0of\u00a0approximately 5,000 local adults and children\u00a0and costs the San Diego economy $800 million dollars.\u00a0On Saturday, Jan. 13, at 1 p.m. the\u00a0Junior League of San Diego\u00a0will march alongside community members in Balboa Park to bring the issue out of the shadows at its fifth annual Human […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":276619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Human Trafficking Awareness Rally to spotlight local problems","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}