In the United States today, we take freedom of many kinds for granted: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to protest. But we often forget that millions of teenagers are denied the most basic of freedoms on a daily basis through human trafficking.

For those who may not know, human trafficking, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, is “an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.” In essence, human trafficking is modern-day slavery, and in some ways, far crueler.

Tragically, the 10th edition of the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report, published in June 2010, estimates that there are at least 12.3 million adults and children globally in forced labor, bonded labor and forced prostitution. Victims undergo horrific physical and psychological abuse that rivals almost nothing we can envision in the U.S.

The National Human Trafficking Resource Center reports that “sex traffickers use a variety of methods to ‘condition’ their victims including starvation, confinement, beatings, physical abuse, rape, gang rape, threats of violence to the victims and the victims’ families, [and] forced drug use.” Worse, victims are in many cases young children or teenagers, stripped of the right to control their bodies and their lives.

The existence of human trafficking is, in itself, maddening and very upsetting. How can we conceive of being forced to perform grueling manual labor, day after day or engage in sexual acts with adults? Of being denied rights we take for granted, like the ability to go to school everyday—let alone to choose our classes, colleges, and later our careers?

This month the holiday of Passover is commemorated, a celebration of the Jewish people’s triumph over slavery in Egypt. It calls on us to remember that even today, people around the globe still face slavery and oppression, and it is important that our generation starts taking that reminder to heart.

If you’re like me, you don’t think about the plight of trafficked teenagers very often, because frankly, it’s easier not to. Addressing human trafficking forces us first to contend with a reality that we’d prefer to avoid: elsewhere in the world, teenagers just like you and me are suffering in ways that we cannot imagine.

Fortunately, there are measures we can take—however small—to alleviate the impacts of trafficking. Those who wish to see trafficking end have a number of anti-trafficking groups to choose from, whether you want to donate or become more actively involved in the fight against trafficking. For instance, Not For Sale is one of many organizations working to end trafficking. It accepts donations and provides opportunities for teenagers to come together to fight against human trafficking. Save the Children also combats trafficking in its efforts to improve the lives of youngsters worldwide. While progress may be slow, we are moving forward—and through coalescing, we will only achieve more.

Despite our best efforts, trafficking may never completely disappear. But we have an obligation to try—until the day comes when it isn’t only American teenagers who can take freedom for granted, but teenagers everywhere.