Gov. John Carney signs a proclamation for Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
Carney was joined by the Anti-Trafficking Action Council, legislators, local advocates, and survivors to bring attention to human trafficking in Delaware.
Brian Moore is Chair of the Anti-Trafficking Action Council.
"Today is far more important than simply a symbolic gesture of our state's commitment to fight this criminal epidemic. Awareness of this tragedy is the key to saving lives," said Moore.
Moore says annually there are 293,000 potential victims of human trafficking in the country according to the FBI with their average ages from 12 to 14.
He says unfortunately this is a crime that rarely gets solved.
"Globally, statistically 4/10 of 1% is how many times we actually are able to find a victim of this criminal tragedy,” said Moore. “4/10 of 1%, all the rest we'll never know. They're stories that we're never going to hear."
He notes in many cases you don’t see the signs of trafficking, and there are times you come across a victim and not know it, it’s something you never suspect.
Dr. Donna Sabella is the council’s first executive director, and she says one priority is industries in the state where the greatest incidents of trafficking take place.
"I think that's part of what my job will be in our community now (with) my colleagues is to educate different factories, positions, and labor, and tell them what to look for, what to do, make it easy for them, maybe give them some software that they can keep track of this and to make it easy and increase their awareness," said Sabella.
Sabella adds she wants to see what industries are amenable first before targeting specific industries.
