Three thousand years after the Jewish people are said to have been liberated from slavery, and 150 years after the Civil War, more people are enslaved today than at any other point in history. According to the most conservative estimates of the International Labor Organization, nearly 21 million people are held in situations of forced labor today: three out of every 1,000 people in the world.

Human trafficking does not occur in a vacuum but represents the extreme end of a continuum of worker exploitation and vulnerability. We therefore support worker-led campaigns to raise wages, combat abuses, and create meaningful enforcement mechanisms to implement hard-won rights.

journey begins with the story of slavery to freedom But today, in order to make freedom possible for the millions of people held in forced labor–including thousands here in the United States–we need comprehensive laws to fight human trafficking that put survivors at the center and combat the root causes of why people are enslaved. I am proud that T’ruah has been part of the coalition efforts that once again ensured that the United States will lead in this critical fight for human rights.”


haggadah Section: Introduction