January 4, 2023 by Ashley Norris
January 2023: A Time to Raise Awareness of Slavery, Human Trafficking, and Stalking
January 2023 is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Since 2010, the White House has dedicated this month to raising awareness on the different forms of human trafficking, also known as modern slavery, and educating people about this crime and how to spot it. This January also marks the nineteenth National Stalking Awareness Month (NSAM), an annual call to action to recognize and respond to the serious crime of stalking.
It is a key time for us all as individuals to educate ourselves about the signs of human trafficking and stalking. Throughout the month, we’ll raise awareness on our website and social media about human trafficking and stalking, and celebrate the efforts of anti-trafficking organizations, communities of faith, state and local law enforcement, survivors, and survivor advocates throughout our service area that promote these important causes.
Everyone can play a part in ending violence.
With the widespread lack of awareness and understanding of slavery and human trafficking, more adults and minors are being exploited, bringing in alarming revenue of billions of dollars for traffickers. There are 40.1 million victims of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands of victims here in the United States.
Texas in particular is a hot spot for human trafficking in the United States. Its population is spread over a massive area of land, with major highway systems like Interstate Highway, IH-10, which covers close to 900 miles, going directly through Houston, San Antonio, and El Paso, and running all the way to both the East and West Coasts.
While legal definitions of stalking vary depending on the jurisdiction, a good working definition of stalking is: a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.
Our Individual Safety Unit can provide free legal help to survivors with low incomes. We can help with legal needs like:
- Personal safety at home, work, or school
- Applying for a protective order
- Filing for divorce or custody of your children
- Transferring to a different school
- Keeping medical, mental health, and education records private
- Terminating a lease or fighting an eviction
- Applying for unemployment benefits, food stamps, Medicaid, or Social Security disability
- Applying for crime victim compensation
- Fighting payday loans, hospital bills, or other creditors
- Fighting identity theft
Learn more at https://www.lonestarlegal.org/services/legal-aid-to-survivors-of-sexual-assault-project/.
Wear Blue Day
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day, Wear Blue Day, is recognized each year on January 11th. To raise awareness of human trafficking, we invite the communities we serve to take photos of themselves, friends, family, and colleagues wearing blue clothing, and share them on social media – Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – along with the #WearBlueDay hashtag. Anyone can participate, all you need is a piece of blue clothing!
Follow @DHSBlueCampaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information about #WearBlueDay and Campaign efforts throughout the year.
The Safe Space
Our Individual Safety Unit created The Safe Space, a virtual outreach series that airs quarterly in 2023. “Lone Star Legal Aid, as part of the larger statewide LASSA Network, is committed to providing survivors with individualized, holistic legal services. We are thrilled to provide an online platform for discussion of topics relevant to sexual violence survivors, as well as to the advocates that serve this special population,” says Victoria Smith, Directing Attorney, and Survivor Advocate. Tune-in for new episodes and check out our past ones here.
Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines, who live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. LSLA focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety, stability, health, and wellbeing; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, the aging, survivors of crime and disasters, the unemployed and underemployed, the unhoused, those with limited English language skills, and the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.LoneStarLegal.org.
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
