The American Trucking Association has launched a new effort to curb human trafficking in the transportation industry by having men speak out against the practice.

The new "Man to Man Campaign," launched jointly with the nonprofit Truckers Against Trafficking, was created in the belief that if there were no demand for commercial sex, then sex trafficking would not exist, ATA said in a statement.

As part of the campaign, TAT will feature truck drivers who advocate strongly against trafficking on the group's website, social media pages, and on banners at speaking engagements throughout the country. The banners will also flank TAT's Freedom Drivers Project, a touring tractor-trailer exhibition about human trafficking that stops at major trucking events.

"From truck drivers to dock workers to dispatchers throughout the supply chain, if we can continue talking to one another about the atrocity that is human trafficking, we can make substantial progress toward our goal of eliminating it,"said ATA COO Elisabeth Barna at a press conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday. "Now that our industry is aware that human trafficking is a problem, we want to challenge trucking to take the next step in its eradication."

The campaign's website is truckersagainsttrafficking.org/man-to-man-campaign.

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