C elebrate! There have been so many recent advocacy-powered victories that we had a hard time choosing which ones to highlight. Thanks to all who submitted suggestions. Send any good advocacy news you want us to celebrate to Kristyn@esa-online.org. After months of lobbying from Polaris Project and other anti-trafficking advocates, and after receiving over 27,000 letters from Change.org members, the Maryland legislature has passed three critical anti-trafficking bills. Huge thanks go out to all the petition signers who helped spur this victory along, the champions of these bills in the Maryland legislature, and all the advocates who spoke out against human trafficking. To learn more about this victory and to advocate for the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act, go to PolarisProject.org. On March 24 Target signed on to the No Dirty Gold campaign’s “Golden Rules” for more responsible metals mining. Because Target is one of the top 10 jewelry retailers in the US, its support could significantly boost the effort to clean up gold mining. To date, more than 70 other jewelry retailers with combined US sales of more than $13.5 billion—nearly a quarter of the US market—and more than 100,000 people have signed on to the No Dirty Gold pledge (NoDirtyGold.org).
The largest florist in the world, 1-800-Flowers, responded to 54,000 Change.org members and agreed to begin selling Fair Trade flowers and to insist on a strong code of conduct for all their suppliers to counteract the deplorable working conditions that thousands of female flower workers face in South America. They’ve promised to offer Fair Trade flowers in time for Mother’s Day, making 1-800-Flowers a leader in the industry. Go to facebook. com/1800flowers to send them a thank you note! Taking a historic and humane step, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn abolished the state’s death penalty on March 9th. Thanks to more than 9,000 people who signed a petition or called the governor’s office, Illinois became the third state to legislatively abolish its death penalty since 1972.
MTV has promised not to air Kanye West’s offensive music video “Monster.” After a 30-second video preview was leaked revealing eroticized violence against woman, a Care2.com petition signed by over 15,000 people asked MTV not to air the video.
Guam became the third country to ban shark finning, a process that cruelly removes the fins off sharks to make shark fin soup. Nearly 15,000 signatures went out to the Governor of Guam and he listened. And Costco has become a leader in the sustainable seafood industry by stopping the sales of 12 “red-listed” seafood species. Greenpeace and over 30,000 petitioners convinced Costco that fishing “red-listed” seafood is not only damaging to the environment, but often these fish are harmful to humans. Learn more about both these victories at Care2.com.
The Oregon Center for Christian Voices (OCCV. org) helped win a major victory in the Oregon State Legislature with the passage of HB 2714. The bill will fight human trafficking by increasing the fines on men who purchase minors for sex. In addition, the bill eliminates the age defense, so the common excuse that a purchaser “just didn’t know” the age of a young victim is no longer admissible in a court of law. Lastly, the bill helps treat minors as victims rather than criminals, so minors who are commercially sexually exploited have greater access to treatment programs. When Christians work together on public policy, we can protect our most vulnerable neighbors.
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