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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

National Bill To End Modern Slavery May Address Local Human Trafficking Issue

Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns: http://www.maryknollogc.org/article/maryknoll-supports-end-modern-slavery-initiative-act-2015
The End Modern Slavery Initiative Act of 2015 has bipartisan support and is expected to move through national legislature quickly.

A bipartisan bill to combat human trafficking is working its way through the United States legislature. The national initiative could benefit the Cape Fear region, which has high rates of human trafficking. 

If passed, the human trafficking bill would institute The End Modern Slavery Initiative Foundation. Using private and public monies totaling over a billion dollars, the Foundation would finance anti-trafficking programs in places where adults and children are forced into servitude.

Jessica Green of Coastal Horizons’ Rape Crisis Center says human trafficking is a prevalent problem in the Cape Fear region:

"I think a lot of people don’t realize that North Carolina is in the top ten for human trafficking for many reasons, you know, including that we have a port, access to major highways, which makes us a really transient place, that we are a destination location, and also that we have several large military bases."

Programs funded by the End Modern Slavery Initiative would have to document at least a 50% reduction in human trafficking to continue receiving the grants. 

To hear more about the work being done in the Cape Fear region to reduce human trafficking, listen for CoastLine on Wednesday, March 4, at noon.