Many teens today are victims of human trafficking and modern slavery. A teen can be coerced to engage in activities such as commercial sex, fraud, or extortion. The most vulnerable people are street children and run-away teens. However, it’d be best to teach your teen about human trafficking whether you feel they are at risk or not. This is to get your teen prepared against unforeseen circumstances in the future. Below are ways to engage your teen about human trafficking.
Explain Human Trafficking to Your Teens
Probably, your teens have already heard about human trafficking, but they may not know the weight of the matter. Begin by explaining what human trafficking is and how it affects teenagers. This is a time to engage in open discussions while also maintaining a friendly atmosphere to enable teens to feel free, discuss with you, and ask as many questions as they can.
Let your teenagers know that human traffickers target people within their age limit, and that is why each one should be vigilant and always report any attempted human trafficking incident. When you teach your teens to report anything and everything, they will have nothing to hide from you. Teens should report any incidences that happened offline and online. This will help you take the necessary steps immediately.
Teach Your Teens to Trust their Instincts
Teens should always learn to trust their feelings, whether on the ground or when using the internet. When your teen notices any unusual activity that could be a sign of human trafficking, encourage them always to report such incidences even if it appears harmless.
Teach your teens to watch out for human trafficking signs of grooming since most teens may not be aware of this. The culprits have tricky techniques when planning to kidnap teens, coupled with psychological manipulation to achieve their mission. If your teen notices that things are too good to be true, it could probably be.
If the teens are using online platforms, change the sources or apply additional security measures to keep the platforms safe. However, the primary focus should be teaching your teen how to quickly identify the tricks no matter how good the deal sounds. If you educate teens about the signs to watch out for, it will help them prepare and recognize potential incidences in time.
Advise Your Teens to Watch their Drinks Always
It is not all the time that you will be walking around with your teens. Sometimes, they will be away from you, and they will need to take a drink in the presence of strangers. Let your teens not trust everyone around them. Not everyone has good intentions, and they might be victims of human trafficking if they leave drinks and meals unattended. Teach them to keep a close eye on their drinks or food even when with friends.
Human trafficking recruiters know where to target teens and can attempt to drug them even at school parties. If your teen is traveling, encourage them to go in a group with known and close people. Even if they want to pick a call or use the washrooms, they should never trust their drinks or food to strangers. Encourage your teen to always finish the drink or food before leaving the table.
Incorporate Human Trafficking in Your Curriculum
Teachers should integrate human trafficking into the curriculum when teaching about the history of slavery. Teach teens how modern slavery works and what happens once someone gets recruited into the human trafficking community.
Teens should also be taught who they should report such incidences to and after how long they should report. It is also vital to involve anti-human trafficking organizations, experts, or groups to teach teens intensively about human trafficking. Professionals know the correct language and terminologies to use when teaching teens.
Some teens might have encountered traumatizing incidences. It’d be best to involve people with human psychology experience to help restore the teen’s peace and esteem while also teaching teens the best techniques to stay safe from human traffickers.
The Bottom Line
Dealing with teens can sometimes be challenging. As such, you should strive to build a strong relationship with your teens to enable you to create a warm atmosphere and make the teen open up to you freely. Using the information above can help your teen keep a close eye and avoid incidences that could lead to human trafficking.