Cousins explained the organization s emphasis during Super Bowl Week: International Justice Mission … is really the world s leader in combatting human trafficking, modern-day slavery, Cousins said. There s currently 40 million people trapped in modern-day trafficking, so it s a very real problem. During Super Bowl Week, human trafficking occurs every single year in the host city. The NFL, to [its] credit, wants to bring attention to that. This is an issue of human trafficking that does occur domestically, but it operates in the darkness. It succeeds behind the scenes, so we want to bring it to the light, Cousins continued. And we want to bring awareness to the issue, bring awareness to what International Justice Mission is doing all over the world and use the Super Bowl and the platform of football to be able to bring light to the issue.
Vikings star Kirk Cousins calls attention to disturbing human trafficking that often plagues Super Bowl By Christopher Brito History will be made at Super Bowl LV
Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay kicks off on Sunday and local officials have already warned about the rise of human trafficking that often surrounds the big game. For Minnesota Vikings quarterback and father Kirk Cousins, fighting human trafficking is a cause that is personal. I think about how fragile my boys are. and to think that anybody would take advantage of them or harm them, it makes my blood boil to think that does happen to young people all over the world in the tens of millions, Cousins told CBS News on Monday. It s disturbing.
Demonstrators in Keene, New Hampshire, gather at a Save the Children Rally to protest child sex trafficking and pedophilia around the world, on September 19, 2020. | AFP via Getty Images/Joseph Prezioso
More people toil in slavery around the world than most Americans realize as there are currently 40 million people enslaved, enough to fill every NFL stadium 20 times, according to International Justice Mission.
“Every day, countless people are trafficked into slavery, as slave owners make a profit off their vulnerability,” IJM National Director of Church Mobilization Katelyn Curran told The Christian Post. “People in poverty are uniquely vulnerable to this violence because while their wealthier neighbors can pay for security and safety, they cannot. Force, fraud and coercion are key ways traffickers trick and lure those in poverty into false debt and bonded labor.”
Eight years later, Cousins found an answer to his prayer for opportunity to help: a career in the NFL. As a rookie with Washington in 2012, he was invited by a teammate to attend a benefit for the International Justice Mission. The dots quickly connected in his mind.
That speaker Cousins remembered hearing in high school? His name was Gary Haugen, the founder of IJM, a Christian organization that works to stop trafficking and abuse of the poor around the world by rescuing and restoring victims, holding perpetrators accountable, and strengthening justice systems. That event further stoked the passion in Cousins to join the cause.
Eight years later, Cousins found an answer to his prayer for opportunity to help: a career in the NFL. As a rookie with Washington in 2012, he was invited by a teammate to attend a benefit for the International Justice Mission. The dots quickly connected in his mind.
That speaker Cousins remembered hearing in high school? His name was Gary Haugen, the founder of IJM, a Christian organization that works to stop trafficking and abuse of the poor around the world by rescuing and restoring victims, holding perpetrators accountable, and strengthening justice systems. That event further stoked the passion in Cousins to join the cause.