Opposing Human Trafficking

MECPATHS (Mercy Efforts for Child Protection Against Trafficking with the Hospitality Sector) continues to deliver on our efforts to prevent child trafficking within an ever-changing world.

As we journey through daily life within our own communities and explore those who live around us, challenges to protected childhoods continue to emerge. With hundreds of thousands of predators online at any given time, waiting for vulnerable children to present themselves, MECPATHS remains aware that our efforts and methods of prevention need to evolve regularly. We hold close to our work the understanding that families remain at the core of protecting vulnerable children and believe that each child has the right to be protected. We work to raise awareness amongst the hospitality sector to prevent child trafficking and hope, on a daily basis, that the marginal social benefit of our work excels.

In the coming months, MECPATHS will extend its outreach on many new platforms and in many new ways to engage with the wider listening communities of Ireland, and the world.

Our involvement with The Young Mercy Leaders’ Pilgrimage, 31 July - 3 August, presents us with a unique opportunity to meet with the planners and policy makers of the future. It affords us the ability to connect with young people who carry forward the strength and energies to make a difference in the world, to raise their voices for those who can’t and to champion causes in their own communities. MECPATHS will host a workshop during the Pilgrimage and will concentrate our efforts on connecting with youth ambassadors and raising awareness amongst the pilgrims….and have fun along the way.

The World Meeting of Families 2018, takes place in Dublin 21st - 26th August, and MECPATHS is delighted to host a workshop on Human Trafficking in partnership with APT (Act to Prevent Trafficking).The Workshop entitled 'An open wound on the body of contemporary society' (Pope Francis) will explore the international and national contexts within which Human Trafficking discourse finds itself. We will hear from Kevin Hyland O.B.E. as our keynote speaker and from a survivor of trafficking whose adult life was moulded by her childhood experiences. The workshop offers MECPATHS an opportunity to step out of the world of hospitality and to meet with those who use hotels; parents and young adults. It supports our longterm vision of further community connectivity and it offers a platform to us to extend our family, to present our growing need and to speak passionately about our plans for our future.

As we continue to connect with people through our work and our spirit, we are reminded daily about the interconnectedness of all of life. The interconnectedness of each member of our community, the interconnectedness of our families, our efforts and our causes. We are reminded and are asked to remember those who are so very disconnected in the world, whose lives have been so damaged and fractured by worlds of human trafficking that they remain lost, isolated, in darkness and at times, afraid to find the light. We ask you to remember all victims of human trafficking in your prayers.

Messages to: JP O'Sullivan - MECPATHS Research, Networking and Communications