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Reebok SA as part of its Women’s Month corporate citizen initiatives, has partnered with The Salvation Army Southern Africa, to create awareness of the crime that is human trafficking, and ensuring that South Africans are made aware of the alarming statistics present in the country.
Motivated by money, human trafficking can be described as the modern-day form of slavery.
The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates 248,700 people live in conditions of modern slavery in South Africa. However, numbers and statistics are a superficial way of trying to understand the seriousness and complexity of the issue. In South Africa the increase, especially in the sex trade is a part of a ripple effect of poverty, racism, unemployment, inequality and most importantly education.
South Africa has been kept on the downgraded tier 2 Watch group by the USA Trafficking in Persons Report because of lack of accurate data, lack of convictions, and general complicacy by government officials.
There have been 2 132 Human Trafficking related cases reported to SAPS between 9 August 2015 and 12 December 2017.
What is more alarming is that human trafficking is said to be the largest profit-making crime in the world, superseding by drug trafficking. To put this to measure, there are currently around 27-million people enslaved in the world today.
Speaking on the partnership with The Salvation Army, PJ Morilly, Brand Director for Reebok SA, highlights the importance of the initiative, says, “This is a real problem that’s in fact happening in plain sight every day in South Africa. Therefore, This Women’s Month, we as Reebok want to continue our commitment to women empowerment and ensure that women are safe, our aim is to equip them with knowledge that will help save lives. In 2017, Reebok South Africa offered South African women free self-defence classes with the aim to empower and educate women across the country with the necessary tools to walk tall and with confidence, by learning the basics of self-defence. Now, in 2019, with the help of The Salvation Army – Reebok aims to raise awareness and educate society about the dangers of women and child trafficking in SA.”
Reebok South Africa has committed to raising funds to aid the campaign and will also involve their customers to be part of the campaign and solution. 10% of Reebok’s SA’s sales revenue across reebok.co.za and Concept stores in August will be donated to The Salvation Army to help the organisation in combatting this atrocity.
“Although we realise that this isn’t an issue with a quick fix, we as a brand are inspired by the work that The Salvation Army to reach the vulnerable. It’s a privilege to be supporting them, as they support our nation’s daughters, mothers and sisters”.
The Salvation Army Southern Africa spokesperson, Major Carin Holmes, says the organisation expressed gratitude to the Reebok team for their generosity and enthusiasm in getting involved in such a worthy cause.
“The topic of human trafficking is not spoken about enough,” Holmes explains. “It is rife in our society, and can happen to anyone, even in our neighbourhoods. We hope that through this campaign, we can not only address the situation head-on, but create awareness in the public that it is a serious problem we face. This campaign provides an opportunity to help spread the message and educate. We all have the resources to do more and better, with just a tweet or a share on Facebook, we have the potential to reach so many people and save a life. Don’t sit with this information, let’s create more awareness using the hashtag #StopHumanTrafficking
“Moreover, our aim is to also equip citizens with the knowledge to identify instances where this may be happening in their neighbourhoods, and contact the relevant authorities to stop this.”
If you know someone in trouble or have valuable information to save a life, you can help by phoning the toll-free number: 08000 RESCU (73728)
To lend a hand to this cause, visit:
- Reebok website
- Reebok Twitter
- Reebok Facebook
- Reebok Instagram
- Salvation Army Facebook
- Salvation Army Twitter
As part of its Women’s day and Human Trafficking Awareness campaign, Reebok will be giving a gift with every purchase made this weekend on the online store, Menlyn Shopping Centre, Mall of Africa and Gateway Shopping Centre. Play your part in changing the world by simply making a purchase.
This post and content is written, sponsored and provided by Salvation Army x Reebok.
