Whether you are a survivor or someone who desires to see an end to modern-day slavery, everyone has the power to affect trafficking policy on every level. Let your local, state and federal representatives know you expect them to pass legislation that will crack down on traffickers and provide victims with the support services they need to put their lives back together. You can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to get a listing for your local policy makers and refer to the Library of Congress for bills that are currently under review.
CAST is continuously working with Congress to pass legislation to help abolish slavery and trafficking and provide victims with crucial services. Here is what is going on now...
Action Steps You Can Take Today!
Call or email your California Senator and ask them to vote for SB 516 and SB 738. Calls or letters can be sent until Tuesday May 28, 2013 COB. It’s easy to find your California Senator’s contact information at: http://www.legislature.ca.gov/legislators_and_districts/legislators/your_legislator.html
Sample Call to Make to Your Senator:
Either leave a voice message or simply talk to the receptionist:
“My name is ___ and I live at ______________ (your address). I'm calling to ask the Senator to Support SB 516 (Steinberg) to prevent human trafficking among foreign labor recruiters who bring workers to California and to support SB 573 (Yee) to better address the issues of child trafficking in our child welfare systems.
CAST is sponsoring two pieces of CA legislation this year that address human trafficking in our state, and both pieces of legislation will be voted on the Senate Floor as early as Tuesday (5/28/13) of next week. Therefore we need your help. Please call or fax a letter of support to your Senators and ask them to support both pieces of legislation described below.
SB 516 takes a multi-prong approach to preventing human trafficking in California by Foreign Labor recruiters. Foreign labor contractors will be required to provide full and fair information to foreign workers, in a language they understand, about the terms and conditions of work in California.
SB 738 would help provide better care for all minor victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation-both sex and labor trafficking. SB 738 proposes that a juvenile victim of human trafficking be eligible for juvenile dependency
Organization representatives, please join CAST in submitting letters of support for the California Foreign Labor Contracting Bill (SB 516), and the Yee Safe Harbor Bill (SB 738).
SB 738 Letter of Support Template
SB 516 Letter of Support Template
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact our Policy and Legal Services Director, Stephanie Richard, at stephanie@castla.org
What: A forum for practitioners, experts, and those interested in human trafficking in California to come together to discuss current trafficking related legislation in California and receive insight and guidance on policy advocacy.
When: Conference Call: 11:00am-12:00pm, last Friday of every month
To register for the monthly call please e-mail legalintern@castla.org
To find out how to contact your representatives in the California State Legislature, visit: www.leginfo.ca.gov
On June 1st, CHIME FOR CHANGE presented a global concert event to put girls’ and women’s issues on the world’s stage. Millions of people joined in THE SOUND OF CHANGE LIVE to promote Education, Health and Justice for girls and women everywhere. Performers included Beyoncé, Ellie Goulding, Florence + The Machine, John Legend and more.
JADA PINKETT SMITH brought the issue of human trafficking to the stage. She... [more]
Start a conversation with CAST and The Hamper. We are teaming up with The Hamper this week to make a line of cause tees that represent the mission of CAST. These shirts are affordable and represent what we at CAST are fighting for. For every shirt that you purchase at www.TheHamper.org, The Hamper will donate $8 to our programs. This will help liberate individuals, help them start normal... [more]
The Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST) has been nominated to win the Women’s Foundation of California “People’s Momentum Award” – a $10,000 grant. We just need the most votes to win!
Please click here to vote by noon PDT on Thursday, March 28. It will take less than 15 seconds, but will make a tremendous difference to the... [more]
As CAST’s is launching its new legal services program assisting domestic minor sex trafficking victims, CAST is finding that instead of receiving support and services as crime victims, children are being arrested and treated as criminals rather than being referred to services for abused or neglected children.
We can change this by enacting H.R. 2730 which asks State Welfare Agencies to better protect and identify children at risk of human trafficking.
The Act
The Strengthening the Child... [more]
Abolish 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking
August 10-11, 2012 | Skirball Cultural Center | Los Angeles, CA
Sponsored by the Los Angeles Metro Task Force on Human Trafficking
An annual forum convening local and federal law enforcement, anti-trafficking government agencies and NGOs, business and legal-community leaders, state and federal policy makers, leading researchers, international representatives, and journalists to explore trafficking trends, foster inter-agency and NGO cooperation, and to inform and inspire business, legal and medical... [more]
Remarks
Luis CdeBaca
Ambassador-at-Large, Office To Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons
Minneapolis, MN
May 8, 2012
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you, Marilyn, for that generous introduction. I spend a lot of time working to bring more and more businesses into the anti-trafficking movement. And when I talk about what corporations can do to get involved, I invariably point to Marilyn not just as a leader, but essentially as the pioneer... [more]
Updated Form for Requesting Assistance for Foreign Trafficked Children
The Division of Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) within the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) modified the Request for Assistance for Child Victims of Human Trafficking form, found on the ATIP website at www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking. We encourage requesters to use this revised form.
FY 2010 Attorney General's Annual Report to Congress
USDOJ has published... [more]
Read the Body Shop's "Values Report" for 2011
it's an interesting and descriptive read of the Body Shop's activities around ethical sourcing principles and programs, including their ongoing efforts to source raw materials from farmer/worker collectives and their interest in moving beyond "ethical auditing" to more sustainable and higher standard practices that the Body Shop is now bringing to the much larger L'Oreal Group.
On pg. 51 you can read about some of the... [more]
The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act has focused company attention on the presence of human trafficking and modern-day slavery in supply chains. Yet standard social compliance responses will not be adequate to reduce company risks - or worker vulnerability - to these egregious problems. In this White Paper, Verité outlines the content of the Act, the sources of trafficking and forced labor risk, and what is necessary in order to address these problems... [more]
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS) and Calvert Investments recently released Effective Supply Chain Accountability: Investor Guidance on Implementation of The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act and Beyond.
This document provides guidance for—and strongly encourages—companies to go beyond minimum compliance with The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB 657) by implementing a comprehensive human rights framework. Access the full guide here.
What if Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking - CAST earned a donation every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support our cause? Well, now it can!
GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search... [more]
There are 27 Million slaves in the world today….
click here for 27 Things You Can Do to Help Fight Trafficking & Slavery
First CAST student chapter launch at Occidental College (abolve)
Other CAST campus chapters are starting up around LA. The Oxy students were creative, knowledgeable, energetic and an inspiration about the power of students to affect change in their community .
The photos are from the anti-trafficking fair they held on their campus November 3rd 2009. The class broke into 4 groups and each group covered a different type of trafficking (garment industry, agriculture, domestic servitude and sex trafficking). They... [more]
