CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The city of Chicago has announced its first-ever campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation.
The new campaign, “It’s Wrong, Know Your Rights,” aims to educate victims and survivors of human trafficking and workplace exploitation about their rights. There are vital resources and services available to help them, officials said.
“Sex trafficking 100% is happening in the City of Chicago,” Catherine Longkumer, managing attorney at Legal Aid Society of Metropolitan Family Services, said Thursday. “If you think of every low-income industry that exists in the city of Chicago, you can assume there’s probably trafficking happening there.”
Digital billboards will be set up at more than 50 different locations, in both English and Spanish. Additional signage will also be posted on CTA trains, buses, and at bus shelter locations.
“You won’t see the term ‘human trafficking’ in the campaign. That’s not the goal,” Longkumer said. "We don’t need people to understand the legal definition.”
Resources include both city and nonprofit services as well as a newly created website to help individuals better understand their rights.
"People who are currently experiencing or are survivors of human trafficking and exploitation need to know they are not alone, and their city is by their side," Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
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