Inside Traffick Jam 2011

This year Traffick Jam 2011 was held at Orchard Central, on June 11th and 12th. 18 blogshops and 6 bands ensured that this event was a resounding success and revived the voice for the causes and concerns of the UN Women Youth Team. Close to 600 signatures were garnered on a petition to end sex trafficking of young girls in the region.

Glimpses of the Youth Team's first event, Traffick Jam 2010

A blog shop flea market to generate awareness about
UN Women's SoundOut and STOP Sex Trafficking campaigns

"Educating the youth was the primary focus when the Youth Team decided to put together the UN Women Singapore Youth Team. While UN Women does have programmes targeted at the youth, they felt that the message would be more accepted coming from the peers of their target group. Therefore, a group of university students got together and formed the UN Women Singapore Youth Team and the main office helped recruit more members. The Youth Team then decided to launch our Youth Team with an inaugural event, Traffick Jam: Shop to Stop, an event to raise awareness about sex trafficking.

To make it more appealing to the youth, the Youth Team decided to incorporate bands and blogshops into our event. An emcee was also brought on to present the performers and direct the visitors to various stalls. He also highlighted the aim of the event and directed them to the UN Women booth to learn more about sex trafficking while the bands the Youth were not performing. The shop owners, who were selling products like clothes, accessories, handmade cards and soft toys, distributed pamphlets about UN Women Singapore, Body Shop and ECPAT's STOP sex trafficking campaign along with every purchase. Some of the Youth Team members also set up stalls at the event.

Despite the slight rain in the morning of the event, there was a steady stream of people visiting the UN Women main office. When they first entered the office, they would be able to see the videos educating them about sex trafficking and UN Women being screened. The UN Women booth had a pamphlets to encourage interested visitors to sign up with the Youth Team.

Despite minor glitches, the turnout at the event turned out to be better than what was expected. With the setbacks and accomplishments in mind, we are sure that our next event will be a bigger success than Traffick Jam: Shop to Stop."

		Clockwise from top: Poster for the event. The first band takes its place. The Youth Team. Pre loved clothes for sale. Enjoying the yummy cotton candy. Youth Team members take a break to shop. Henna designers at work. Corinna's popular stuffed toy stall.