Ten Ways You Can Help Fight Modern Slavery

Ambassador Luis CdeBaca serves as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and directs the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Today our nation celebrates National Freedom Day, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery was sent to the states for ratification. It is also the culmination of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Around the world, as many as 27 million people are still victimized in human trafficking, or modern slavery. This scourge occurs everywhere in the world -- including our own country. However, there is progress. Here in the United States, nearly every state has some form of anti-trafficking legislation -- and Wyoming is poised soon to become the last state to criminalize modern slavery. The passage of this bill, and others like it, is due in no small part to the work and advocacy of non-governmental organizations, victim service providers, legislators, and concerned citizens like you. As we celebrate the enduring promise of freedom embodied in the Emancipation Proclamation and our Constitution, I hope you will join the continuing struggle to end modern slavery and become a modern day abolitionist. Here are 10 ways you might get involved:

1. Learn the red flags that may indicate human trafficking and ask follow up questions so that you can help identify a potential trafficking victim. Human trafficking awareness training is available for individuals, businesses, first responders, law enforcement, and federal employees.

2. In the United States, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at

The Fight Against Modern Slavery: Fulfilling the Promise of the Emancipation Proclamation

By Luis CdeBaca
Ambassador Luis CdeBaca serves as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and directs the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

On New Year's Day, our nation celebrated the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. President Obama commemorated the anniversary with two Presidential Proclamations: one that celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation and reaffirms the timeless principles it upheld, and a second that declares January 2013 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month and calls on all Americans to recognize the vital role we can play in ending all forms of slavery.

President Obama referred to the Emancipation Proclamation as having "brought a new day -- that 'all persons held as slaves' would thenceforth be forever free. We wrote that promise into our Constitution. We spent decades struggling to make it real." Yet more than a century and a half later, a great deal of work still remains to fulfill the promise of freedom and restore hope to the millions who are still enslaved today.

Globally, as many as 27 million are victimized in modern slavery. This exploitation occurs every day in our cities and towns. It taints the global supply chains of the products we rely on every day. In countries across the world, it tears apart families, undermines communities, creates instability, and threatens the rule of law.