BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA 
 
A PROCLAMATION 
 
WHEREAS : 
WHEREAS: WHEREAS: WHEREAS : WHEREAS: WHEREAS: 
THEREFORE: 
 
HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING 
AWARENESS MONTH 
Sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery that sadly exists throughout the United States and the world. Sex traffickers use violence, threats, deceptions, debt bondage, and other forms of coercion to force women, men, and children to engage in commercial sex against their will; and 
Under federal law, any minor under the age of 18 years induced into commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking, regardless of whether or not the trafficker used force, fraud, or coercion; and 
Adult women make up the largest group of sex trafficking victims, followed by underage girls; and 
Human trafficking generates $9.5 billion yearly in the United States, and approximately 300,000 children are at risk of being prostituted in our country. The average age of entry into prostitution for a child victim in the U.S. is 13-14 years old; and 
Victims of human trafficking suffer emotional, psychological, and physical horrors at the hands of their captors who instill fear to keep them enslaved; and 
Awareness of this heartbreaking situation is vital to combating sex trafficking in our state. We must ensure that justice is swiftly carried out against those who would seek to violate and harm our children, women, and citizens by exploiting them for sexual enslavement; now 
I, NATHAN DEAL, Governor of the State of Georgia, do hereby proclaim January 2015 as HUMAN SEX TRAFFICKING AWARENESS MONTH in Georgia and urge all citizens to educate themselves on this devastating public health and moral issue facing our state. 
In witness the reof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Executive Department to be affixed this 1Oth day of December in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen. 
 
ATTEST 
 
GOVERNOR