CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Human trafficking is a crime that exists in the shadows but is happening in our own backyards.
The Department of Justice reports that the number of persons prosecuted for human trafficking more than doubled from 2011 to 2021.
"The statistics don’t lie," Marvin Ridge High School student Alexis Ohanlon said. "People are ignorant to the fact that these traffickers are smart."
North Carolina ranks in the top 10 for human trafficking, with Charlotte being the hot spot.
"A lot of times people don’t think about that," student Abigail Wan said.
Youth4Abolition (Y4A) is a youth-led prevention and awareness program that is working to end human trafficking through education.
"When you have students in the school leading a club, they’re inviting more of their friends and are learning and spreading throughout their community and it grows," Youth4Abolition Director Alexa Arciero said.
Leaders with the program said social media is one of the most popular ways traffickers identify and secure victims.
"It's so important to teach safety online because who are we letting follow us who are we following," Ohanlon said.
"Many people are unaware of this topic, myself included, and it's really crazy because I'm at that age where victims are prime for traffickers and it's very scary," Wan said.
The students encouraged their peers to be safe by keeping their social media pages private, disabling location tagging, and avoiding interacting with people they don’t know.
They said human trafficking may seem far away -- until it happens to you or someone you know.
"Be abolitionists and leaders in this fight against human trafficking," Arciero said.
If you would like to learn more or contribute to the cause click here.
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