National Human Trafficking Awareness Day 2027 is on Monday

About National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

Human trafficking means using force, fraud or coercion to make someone work or perform commercial sex acts, and any commercial sex involving a minor counts regardless of force. It happens in the US as well as abroad, in settings ranging from farms, factories, restaurants and domestic work to illicit massage businesses and online exploitation. Because traffickers often keep victims isolated, take their documents or threaten them and their families, victims rarely come forward on their own. Awareness among neighbors, coworkers, health workers and others who might notice something is a large part of the response.

On June 22, 2007, the US Senate agreed to Senate Concurrent Resolution 40, introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein with bipartisan cosponsors. It supported the goals of observing a National Day of Human Trafficking Awareness on January 11 each year and noted that individuals, businesses and organizations were already promoting the date. The resolution names forced labor, debt bondage, commercial sexual exploitation and early or forced marriage among the forms of trafficking it opposes.

The day falls within National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, first proclaimed by President Obama for January 2010 and timed to end with National Freedom Day on February 1. The Department of Homeland Security's Blue Campaign promotes January 11 as #WearBlueDay, asking people to wear blue, light landmarks in blue and learn how to recognize and report trafficking.

Sources: GovInfo: S. Con. Res. 40, 110th Congress (2007), U.S. Department of Homeland Security: January 11 is #WearBlueDay, Federal Register: National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2010, National Human Trafficking Hotline. How we check dates.

How to mark National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

• Wear blue on January 11 and share why, using the campaign's hashtag if you post online.
• Take a free online human trafficking awareness training, such as the webinars offered by the DHS Blue Campaign.
• Learn common warning signs, such as someone who isn't allowed to speak for themselves, doesn't hold their own ID or seems to owe an impossible debt to an employer.
• Save the National Human Trafficking Hotline number, 1-888-373-7888, in your phone.
• Ask your workplace, school or faith community to host an awareness session or display.
• Support a local organization that provides shelter, legal help or counseling to survivors.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day dates