Published on January 26, 2015

East Windsor Township Mayor Janice S. Mironov issued a Mayoral Proclamation recognizing January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Regina Smith, Program Coordinator of Emergency Services for Womanspace joined Mayor Mironov to support action for Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Womanspace, the lead non-profit organization in Mercer County that provides crisis intervention and support for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, offers support and services for survivors of human trafficking.

Mayor Mironov’s Proclamation expressed the need “to raise awareness about the signs and consequences of human trafficking, to promote reporting mechanisms and opposition to human trafficking in all of its forms, and to encourage support for the survivors of human trafficking throughout the State of New Jersey and across the world to put an end to this criminal activity and restore freedom and dignity to its survivors.” It further stated that the, “Township of East Windsor is resolved to support the goals and ideals of observing a National Month of Human Trafficking Awareness each year to support all efforts by individuals, businesses, organizations, and governing bodies to raise awareness of and opposition to Human Trafficking.”

The Mayoral Proclamation recognized that, “human trafficking is a borderless crime against individuals that violates the most basic human rights and deprives victims of every shred of personal freedom, and that the United Nations’ International Labour Organization has estimated that at least 12.3 million adults and children worldwide are currently in forced labor, bonded labor, or forced prostitution of whom approximately 80% are women and girls and 50% younger than age 18.”

East Windsor Township Mayor Janice S. Mironov (left) issued a Mayoral Proclamation recognizing January as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, joined by Regina Smith (right), Program Coordinator of Emergency Services for Womanspace