The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) Chicago North Shore has founded J-CAST Chicago or the Jewish Coalition Against Sex Trafficking, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
In the Chicago area alone, the National Council of Jewish Women reports, 16, 000 to 25, 000 local women are “sex trafficked” every year.
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NCJW is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.
NCJW has a long history of addressing sex trafficking although it has been less active on the issue in recent years, said Stacy Saef, co-president of NCJW Chicago North Shore.
As far back as 120 years ago, NCJW members discovered that women were coming to the United States through Ellis Island under the pretenses that a suitor or husband was waiting for them.
“A lot of these women were young, some of them were girls and some of them had no contacts, ” Saef said.
NCJW members stood outside Ellis Island to protect women and to make sure they did not become victims of sex trafficking. The organization saved thousands of women and girls from sexual predators.
“The subject is certainly not new to NCJW, but we were less active for years while we were fighting other fights, ” Saef said. “We’ve always been very active in domestic violence, and this is a form of domestic violence. I actually call it domestic violence on steroids. It’s an abuse of an individual. It’s an abuse of women and children, and that’s right up our organization’s alley.”
