February 13 marked the END IT Movement‘s eighth annual ‘Shine A Light On Slavery Day’ – a day where celebrities, athletes, politicians, influencers, and Freedom Fighters alike come together to let the world know slavery still exists. END IT Movement is a coalition of the world’s leading organizations and everyday people united by the hope of putting an end to slavery and human trafficking in our lifetime. Since 2013, the movement has led the charge for raising awareness and rallying for change in an effort to end one of the most significant human rights issues of its time for good.
END IT, along with its 17 Coalition Partners have vowed to bring awareness, prevention, rescue, and restoration to the world and make a change to end modern-day slavery. With an estimated 40.3 million men, women, and children forced into various forms of slavery, there are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in history. The grim reality is that people are still being forced beyond their control into bonded labor, forced labor and sex trafficking. Today, END IT is issuing a worldwide call-to-action by encouraging people to shine a light on the issue by drawing a red “X” on their hand and posting a selfie to social media using #ENDITMOVEMENT. Those who join the movement help continue and expand the conversation by educating others, bringing awareness and encouraging people to take actionable steps towards changing the course of history.
“Ending slavery is one of the few things we can all agree on as a nation. No matter your political beliefs, slavery is a fundamental violation of human rights, and we must END IT,” said Jenni Brown, END IT Movement Campaign Director. “Each year this campaign grows in awareness and we are gratified to see this issue receive the widespread global attention it deserves.”
Because of the efforts and voices of Freedom Fighters each year, ‘Shine a Light on Slavery’ Day continuously generates a groundswell of buzz and attention in the media landscape – reaching millions of people via varying social media platforms. Led by some of the most well-known and respected names in the world drawing a red “X” on their hands, #ENDITMOVEMENT and ‘Shine a Light on Slavery Day’ historically becomes a top-trending topic across social media channels and becomes an overwhelmingly successful one-day campaign.
The END IT Movement recognizes slavery as one person completely controlling another person, using violence or the threat of violence to maintain that control. Human-trafficking, the modern-day slave trade, refers to the illegal trade of human beings through abduction, the use of threat or force, deception, fraud, or ‘sale’ for the purposes of sexual exploitation or forced labor.
For more information on how you can join, please visit enditmovement.com.
