What is human trafficking, sexual exploitation and human slave labour? Do we need to worry?

Our Mission at Hands Across the World is to implement quality education programs to empower communities to have impact in the prevention of human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and human slave labour.

Human trafficking, sexual exploitation, and human slave labour seems, for so many people, far away in a sort of “ I can imagine what these words mean, but this has nothing to do with me..” kind of thinking. And we don´t judge that, we just kindly ask you to read on.

If that´s not you and you are right in this subject matter, please contact us on info@hatw.online and we would love to source your knowledge to constantly advance in our field.

But if you´re really not sure what all this is about, please read on. Your 2 minutes of reading this might actually already help a few children in this world.

These aforementioned complex crimes are notoriously hard to measure. Traffickers are denying nearly 25 million people their fundamental right to freedom, forcing them to live enslaved and toil for their exploiter’s profit. *

These are almost as many people as there live on the Australian continent including little children!

Do you think this is not happening in your country? No.Maybe… Would you like to check on that?

Click here

For example Germany is only listed as a Tier 2 country on the TIP report. Even Columbia and Namibia are above the Germans when it comes to safety measurements regarding human trafficking and human exploitation. Each country’s tier ranking is based on the government’s efforts to combat trafficking as measured against the `Trafficking Victims Protection Act: Minimum Standards for the Elimination of Trafficking in Persons´ and compared to its efforts in the preceding year.*

Slavery, human trafficking and the exploitation of people are often but not always interconnected.

What is Human Trafficking?

According to the definition of the United Nations, human trafficking means: “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons for the purpose of exploitation.

…this is a global crime that trades in people and exploits them for profit. People of all genders, ages and backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world. Traffickers use violence, fraudulent employment agencies, and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick, coerce and deceive their victims. The organized networks or individuals behind this lucrative crime take advantage of people who are vulnerable, desperate or simply seeking a better life.**

What is sexual exploitation?

Sexual exploitation is an act or acts committed through non-consensual abuse or exploitation of another person’s sexuality for the purpose of sexual gratification, financial gain, personal benefit or advantage, or any other non-legitimate purpose.***

Child sexual exploitation and abuse is when a person(s), of any age takes advantage of a power imbalance to force or entice a child into engaging in sexual activity in return for something received by the child and/or those perpetrating or facilitating the abuse. As with other forms of child sexual abuse, the presence of perceived consent does not undermine the abusive nature of the act.***

What is human slave labour (also called forced labour)?

Forced labour can be understood as work that is performed involuntarily and under the menace of any penalty. It refers to situations in which persons are coerced to work through the use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as manipulated debt, retention of identity papers or threats of denunciation to immigration authorities.***** This can take many forms from sexual exploitation, hard underpaid labour or organ trafficking. The enslaver's power can be manifested physically or psychologically. This is also happening to children worldwide.

Who is effected?

The atrocities mentioned above include children in a high percentage. They can affect people of any gender, race and age. However, it most commonly affects those made more vulnerable by insufficient access to opportunities, education, healthcare or sanitation.

So de we need to worry, inform ourselves and help? What do you think?

#Humanslavelabour #Humantrafficking #sexualexploitation #forcedlabour #childlabour #Cambodia​

*United States Department of State. 2021. 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report - United States Department of State. [online] Available at: <https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/> [Accessed 30 June 2021].

**United States Department of State. 2021. 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report - United States Department of State. [online] Available at: <https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-trafficking-in-persons-report/> [Accessed 30 June 2021].

*** Swarthmore.edu. 2021. What is Sexual Exploitation? :: SHARE :: Swarthmore College. [online] Available at: <https://www.swarthmore.edu/share/what-sexual-exploitation> [Accessed 30 June 2021].

****Gov.scot. 2021. Child sexual exploitation: definition and practitioner briefing paper - gov.scot. [online] Available at: <https://www.gov.scot/publications/child-sexual-exploitation-definition-practitioner-briefing-paper/> [Accessed 7 July 2021].

***** Ilo.org. 2021. What is forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking (Forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking). [online] Available at: <https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/definition/lang--en/index.htm> [Accessed 30 June 2021].

3 new-age educational tips to reengage the students

How to increase your students performance

Discover how to empower your students by embracing the new-age thinking teaching paradigm.

The educational system all over the world faced tremendous challenges in the last year with the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus: Embracing the new shift to online teaching, adapting the teaching methods to the new circumstances, enabling or maintaining access to education to marginalized groups, just to name few. We noticed the effects of these circumstances in our work in Cambodia and also in our offices in Germany and Australia. Teachers and trainers were suddenly challenged to create new student engagement opportunities and empower them in their learning process with new methods. Based on our experience, we want to share how to reengage the students on- and offline.

Embrace the student-centered thinking

Each human being has its own social and cultural background that educators need to consider in a learning process. The old systems such as learning by heart, sitting in a classroom, listening, and taking notes don’t work anymore. Well, they do, but only for a little percentage of students. Others prefer to learn by experimenting or are more of a visual learning type. In a student-centered teaching approach, the change begins with the teacher. It is essential to know the VARK-Model and actively use it in the lesson’s preparation. VARK stands for four different learning styles - visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic - identified in a study conducted by Neil D. Fleming and Coleen in 1992.

For example, in our Humanitarian Power Hour workshop in German schools, we put the student in the center of the happening. Students apply their individual frames to discuss world issues such as modern slavery, human trafficking, and child exploitation. With the mentoring of an experienced humanitarian worker and teacher, we give the space for each student to engage with the topic, build an awareness of the problem and develop possibilities to get active and fight the problem locally united. There is a big difference between teaching your students about a topic and eliciting the answers and reactions. Teachers being able to evoke a reaction from their students, engage. Once you start raising topic-related questions and ask your students for their opinion and input, you will create incredible dynamics. Involve interactive methods and target your students according to their learning types to be a part of the new educational paradigm.

Meet the Zeitgeist of your class

Using interactive methods is fun. Before doing so, get to know what your students are interested in, truly interested in. What are their hobbies? Who are their idols? What movies are they watching? What music are they listening to? What moves them in their lives? Use this knowledge in your lessons. Maybe your students are totally into TED talks. Find a TED talk on a topic you need to go through in the lesson, let them watch it, prepare some questions and watch the discussions arise like mushrooms in a forest after a rainy day. This method is also used successfully in adult education and is specifically successful in foreign language lessons.

Make use of new technologies

Many schools effectively adapted the new technologies in their educational program, but many are still lagging. The current COVID-19 outbreak showed the entire world that the future is shifting towards online, faster than we could have thought. Many NGOs, governmental bodies, schools, public institutions, and companies had to change their entire operations from offline to online. The results were stunning and the real heroes proved to be the teachers. Taking the entire teaching process online was challenging, we won’t deny that. We took our HATW ITTSR teacher training program online and trust us, it is still a work in progress. So, since there are no better alternatives than online teaching, why fighting it? Become friends with the new technologies and use their full potential. The time invested in learning the new skills is an investment in the future. But if you feel overwhelmed, you can outsource this part to others. Research your local possibilities. The help can be closer than you think.

We know it is a lot of work to prepare a lesson, and sometimes even more to engage the students. The first time you will be trying out these ideas might be weird and uncomfortable. But once you get out of your comfort zone and start implementing the tips, it will become your routine.

If you are interested in our free HPH workshop in your school or have any other questions or comments, contact us by email (info@hatw.online).

#bloggingtips #engagestudents #teachertips #educationaltips #newagethinking #funclassroom #interactivelearning