Clearwater’s United for Human Rights Center Provides Tools to Keep Your Child Safe from Social Media Predators

There is an estimated 300,000 Americans under the age of 18 lured into becoming victims of human trafficking every year. An estimated 76% of these young victims are being recruited through the internet. It is with these sobering statistics in mind that United for Human Rights Florida Chapter is offering free seminars on how to keep your child safe from predators on social media.

These seminars can be scheduled at the Human Rights Center, located at 29 N. Fort Harrison Ave., or speakers can make presentations to civic groups and associations during their own regularly scheduled meetings.

“Parents will lock the doors of their houses, will see that their children arrive and come home from school safely, but do they know who their children are talking to online? Maybe not,” said Sanna Heden, the Director for the Human Rights Center.

“The statistics are horrifying,” continued Heden, “Seventy-five percent of trafficked victims were at one point sold online and the average age for a teen to enter the sex trade in the U.S. is 12 to 14 years of age. Parents need to know the warning signs so they can protect their children.”

Human trafficking via the internet is becoming more common. On the 28th of August, 40 adults in Lake County Florida were arrested in a child trafficking ring that was internet based.

“The seminars give parents and teens the signs to look for—does your teen talk about ‘new friends’ they met, but they don’t say who? For teens, one basic step is to keep your facebook profile private and don’t friend anyone you don’t know,” said Heden. “There is a quite a bit to learn, but this is a priceless education. We all have the right not to be enslaved or tortured; that is straight out of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

United for Human Rights utilizes the Universal Declaration as part of its educational programs and consistently works with some 60 civil and human rights groups to raise awareness of modern-day slavery. Over the past year, United for Human Rights Florida Chapter has helped educate more than 50,000 people on their human rights in the Clearwater and Tampa areas.

United for Human Rights and its programs are based on principles expressed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, who in 1969 observed, “Human rights must be made a fact, not an idealistic dream.”

The Church of Scientology sponsors these human rights education and public information campaigns.

For more information about the seminars, or to book one for your group, please call (727) 467-6960.

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United for Human Rights is a non-profit, non-religious, educational program dedicated to teaching the community their human rights, specifically the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to inspire them to become advocates for peace and tolerance. The United for Human Rights Florida Chapter team hosts a variety of events to combat all forms of human rights violations, and provides free educational material and seminars to educators and activists. To learn more, please go to https://www.humanrights.com.