By Jesse Eaves, World Vision Sr. Policy Advisor for Child Protection

 

Saturday marked the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation

…and we celebrated by calling on today’s leaders to embrace the spirit of Lincoln to tackle modern-day slavery.

 

Today, regardless of anyone’s political stripes and colors, we commend President Obama for giving the first-ever presidential address on human trafficking [see video here]. In it, he declared, “Our fight against human trafficking is one of the great human rights causes of our time, and the United States will continue to lead it…”

 

 

In his speech, the leader of the free world gave YOU a shout out again and again. From commending faith-based groups and college students for their efforts, to calling out Congress for their failure to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act that we advocated for… President Obama’s speech was a nod to the power of your voice.

 

You can continue to take up the call!

 

There’s no doubt about it – the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act is like Lazarus – it keeps coming back to life! We have you to thank for that. We have added 6 new cosponsors in the past two weeks. We can expect even more now that President Obama has expressed his support. Even though the Senate has adjourned until after the election, their offices are still open and we can still add supporters and get to the magic number of 60 cosponsors. Even more helpful, we’ve identified some target Senators whose support can help push us over the edge.

 

Get your friends together, make a call to ask them to support the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (S.1301) and then tweet them and tell them to cosponsor and support S.1301.

Call with the following message:

“Hi, my name is __________   and I am a constituent from ___(state)____.  I am calling to ask that Senator_________ support the reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, S. 1301.  I would like the Senate to vote on this bill as soon as possible.  Thank you.”

State	Senator	Phone	Twitter
DE	Thomas Carper (D)	(202) 224-2441	Tweet
HI	Daniel K Inouye (D)	(202) 224-3934	Tweet
IN	Richard G Lugar (R)	(202) 224-4814	Tweet
ME	Olympia J Snowe (R)	(202) 224-5344	Tweet
MI	Carl Levin (D)	(202) 224-6221	Tweet
MO	Claire McCaskill (D)	(202) 224-6154	Tweet
NV	Harry Reid (D)	(202) 224-3542	Tweet
VA	Mark R Warner (D)	(202) 224-2023	Tweet
WI	Herb Kohl (D)	(202) 224-5653	none

 

After the Senate reauthorizes the TVPRA, we will turn all our sights on the House of Representatives and work to make sure that the United States continues to be a global leader in combatting modern slavery. As we saw today, you play the central role in seeing slavery come to an end. Keep it up and let’s give hope to the millions of slaves who we pray will soon be free. Let’s make sure we all follow through and work for the freedom of all people through our voices, our purchasing choices, and our prayers.