Speaking in Kiev, U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) singled out the travel industry for its potential in the struggle against human trafficking. Smith stressed the need to implement “best practices” such as the training of flight attendants to help identify human traffickers and their victims while they’re using airlines. Smith said flight attendants are in a strong position to observe a potential trafficking in progress and can call a trafficking hotline or inform the pilot to radio ahead so that the proper authorities can intervene as they deplane.

The Ukraine is now the first European country to train airport employees to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking as part of an international program to increase cooperation in the fight against a crime that subjects between 600,000 to 800,000 people per year to modern day slavery.

The U.S. government has been ahead of the pack on this issue and so far the private sector has been a willing partner. In June, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Deputy Commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan unveiled a training program called the Blue Lightning Initiative offered to enlist airlines in the campaign to educate employees on trafficking identification and a system for notifying federal authorities. The DOT, which trained 55,000 of its own employees, also helped train Amtrak employees to identify human traffickers.

In June, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Allegiant Air and North American Airlines all began training employees to identify and recognize indicators of human trafficking both in flight and on the ground. Marilyn Carlson Nelson, former CEO of Carlson received a Public Leadership Award from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs earlier this year for her work to stop sex trafficking. Carlson was the first company to win the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons in April.

"We are all responsible for ending this dehumanizing crime, but the fact is airline, hotel and transportation professionals are in a unique position to identify potential victims to get them the help they need," said Smith, who is the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Special Representative on Human Trafficking Issues.

Last Monday, Ukrainian aviation workers participated in a training workshop. According to Smith, a single workshop could save "hundreds, maybe thousands, more lives" from trafficking. Officials in Kiev hope its reforms will enable the country to meet the criteria of its Association Agreement with the European Union, which it expects to sign at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius in November.

In 2012, an International Labor Organization report estimated that there were around 20.9 million victims of forced labor around the world at any given time. That figure includes 4.5 million victims of sexual exploitation, 98 percent of whom are women and girls, according to the report.