Religious Investors Address Trafficking at Super Bowl

Since major sporting events are occasions for increased human trafficking activity, the Coalition for Corporate Responsibility in Indiana and Michigan (CCRIM) will be contacting all of the hotels within a 50-mile radius of the location of the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis. The Sisters of Mercy belong to CCRIM through Mercy Investment Services, the single investment program for the Institute and sponsored ministries.

CCRIM members faxed letters to 220 hotels in the Indianapolis area. The letter asked if the hotel has provided training for its staff on the issue of human trafficking, if it has programs or procedures in place for staff to report anything that might be indicative of trafficking, if it is aware of local agencies that are prepared to respond to incidents of human trafficking, and if it is willing to make basic information about human trafficking available to guests.

40 volunteers from seven religious congregations, including several Sisters of Mercy, are making follow-up calls to the hotels to see if they have any questions about the fax.

\CCRIM will be approaching the hotels as investors. Due to shareholder action over the past few years, several major hotel chains have signed on to the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) Code of Conduct, an international effort to enlist the travel and tourism industries in the struggle against human trafficking.

As an individual, you can join in this effort whenever you stay at a hotel. Simply visit the Mercy Investment Services website to print a letter that you can present to hotel personnel when you check in. The letter encourages hotels to sign onto and implement the ECPAT Code.

CCRIM invites all those concerned about the evils of human trafficking to support these efforts through prayer. The Sisters of the Holy Cross have prepared a prayer service for National Trafficking Awareness Day. Visit sistersofmercy.org for more information on the ways that the Sisters of Mercy are addressing human trafficking and see our microsite on Opposing Human Trafficking on Mercy world.

By Sister Karen D.