On your travels Sunday to worship, to dine, to shop or to view the latest action thriller, do not be surprised if you find yourself surrounded in a sea of blue. Be proud.

That’s because Sunday, as designated by state, national and international bodies, is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. People from Warren, Ohio, to Warsaw, Poland, are asked on that day to dress in blue to display a united international front against that despicable, demeaning and exploitative crime.

The hue of blue is deeply associated with Human Trafficking Awareness Day because it symbolizes the sadness of victims, the coldness of traffickers and the solidarity with survivors, stemming from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s Blue Heart Campaign.

Such a massive unified stance, however, rises above mere symbolism. It also concretely demonstrates the ballooning international outrage against the horrific criminal enterprise and the 50 million people globally impacted by human trafficking each year, according to the UNDC. That agency also notes that 1 in 4 victims of trafficking are helpless children.

From our little corner of the earth, Ohio and the Mahoning Valley can take pride in leading the charge to lessen its scope, to prosecute its perpetrators and to provide assistance to some of its countless victims.

As Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost remarked late last month in reporting on the state’s 2025 progress in combating such sordid exploitation, “Every time we arrest a trafficker, raid an illicit massage parlor or free a victim from a tormentor, we move closer to the day when no human is bought or sold in our state.”

Yost was not mincing words. A network of regional trafficking task forces under the direction of the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission made hundreds of arrests last year in its demand-reduction efforts. The state attorney general made noteworthy mention of the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force’s many successes, including its May raids on two illicit massage parlors — Warren’s Tiger Spa and Sunny Spa — in which eight people faced 83 felony charges as well as an October sting in which an Erie, Pa., physician was charged with attempting to buy sex from a Mahoning Valley minor and eight other suspected johns were arrested.

That work must continue and gain even more momentum in 2026, considering that Ohio has earned a reputation as a leader in the anti-human trafficking movement. At the same time, however, that work is critical because the Buckeye State consistently ranks among the Top 5 or Top 10 states in the union for the number of reported human-trafficking crimes.

Our standing as a hotbed for prostitution and trafficking rests on a foundation that encourages the crime to thrive here: significant substance abuse, considerable economic instability and a robust network of interstate highways, truck stops and rest stops.

That’s why a multi-pronged cooperative approach that also involves taut legislative initiatives must press on aggressively. On that front, Ohio also can take pride in its strong track record.

The state has passed significant laws, such as the Safe Harbor Act (providing victim protections) and the End Demand Act (increasing penalties for those who purchase sex from minors). The Polaris Project, a national anti-trafficking nonprofit, has recognized Ohio as one of the most improved states in its anti-trafficking laws.

But as long as the gnarly crime plies its trade within our borders, legislators must remain vigilant. That means efforts to thwart would-be traffickers must get priority treatment in both chambers of the state’s lawmaking General Assembly.

In real time, that translates into passage of the pending Human Trafficking Prevention Act, sponsored by Valley state Rep. Nick Santucci, R-Niles. It is designed to put much sharper teeth into state statutes and criminal penalties for such monstrous crimes.

Santucci’s bill will increase penalties for human trafficking from 10-15 years in prison to a minimum of 15 years. Notably, for the first time, it also provides potential life prison sentences for those who victimize individuals under the age of 18 or those who are developmentally disabled.

After the state House unanimously passed the get-tough act last June, it has since languished in the state Senate’s Judiciary Committee. Those lawmakers should listen to the pleas of Majority Whip Santucci and others by acting expeditiously to get these beefy provisions on the books.

As Santucci told senators in November, “This legislation will contribute to greater safety in our communities and send a clear message to traffickers that their crimes will not be tolerated in Ohio.”

To those ends, make it a point to support the war on trafficking. Go blue on Sunday. Then stay true to the cue of that hue for the long haul.