Resources for Raising Awareness About the Issue of Human Trafficking

“I had a strong feeling for the plight of women and children throughout my life. I am now aware that trafficking of humans is cropping up all over the place. How can I get involved?”

Trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world. It is second only to Drugs and at times changes places with Arms to third place. Human trafficking is a crime against the fundamental human rights and dignity of the human person. The growth of human trafficking in recent years is phenomenal. Few countries in the world are not involved. It is a hidden secretive activity. ‘Slavery’ is a more accurate and descriptive term. People should not be bought and sold.

According to the UN website http://UN.GIFT.org one of the many challenges to eradicating human trafficking is the lack of knowledge. For any individual, becoming informed about the topic of Trafficking, is a necessary starting point. There are many websites and groups that provide simple introductory work on raising awareness.

As an Introduction to Human Trafficking the website http://www.sistersofthedivinesavior.org/sds/anti-slavery/ contains helpful material.
Go to the Anti-Slavery section. The artcle ‘The Basics’ gives a helpful introduction to a topic that is complex, multi-national, and economically driven. It can help you to grapple with this important issue. The website also contains DVD and video clips.The video clip, Look beneath the Surface, broadens the picture of what can happen to trafficked victims. This is a US website and is also helpful for anybody in the English speaking world.

The website of Sisters of the Holy Cross is www.cscsisters.org Click on ‘Work for Justice’ and ‘Human Trafficking’ and see especially the ‘Introduction to Human Trafficking’ slide show presentation in ‘Interviews and Presentations’. The Sisters of the Holy Cross share a Prayer Service for Hunam Trafficking. It can be locate under Spirituality and then Prayer Resources.

The Stop Trafficking newsletter which is sponsored by Religious congregations is hosted at www.stopenslavement.org. It serves as a forum for exchange among congregations and their collaborating organisations. Focus for each issue is given in the top right-hand corner. www.stoptraffick/archive opening page gives a current list of 20+ info topics on the right. On the left the bottom heading ‘2003through2012’ opens a list of all past issues. The December 2012 issue is particularly relevant to on current topics.

www.UNANIMA-International.org is the website of a coalition of representatives from various congregations of women religious. Their outreach work on Trafficking is in Kenya and they are making a presentation to the UN on 8 March 2013, International Woman’s Day. UNANIMA’s current trafficking campaign is “Stop the Demand”. Access the pdf here.

www.protectionproject.org contains the 100 Best Practices in Combating Trafficking in Persons: The Role of Civil Society . It is a publication (2012) of The Protection Project at The John Hopkins University in Washington. All topics are on individual pages.Access it here. The Introduction itself will help you to locate were your own interest can be used to make a difference. Under Documents country reports are listed. Click on your own country to get an up-to-date picture. This website contains a coloured Review of TIP2012 document and provides a global perspective.

Religious Congregations and Faith-based groups place a strong emphasis on praying for the complex issues and people invoved in the Trafficking chain. We can pray for those whose lives are destroyed by Human Trafficking and those still held in that form of slavery. We can pray also for those working on their behalf and for a change of heart on the part of the traffickers and the clients themselves.

www.talithakum.info is the website of Talitha Kum, an International Network of Consecrated Life working against Trafficking in Persons. This project is based on Mark 5:41- ‘Taking her by the hand Jesus said to her “Talitha cum”, which means “Little girl, I say to thee arise” A list of Participants and Networks are acessable from the website. Under Documents there are 3 slide-shows: Story of Ruth, Evening Prayer and Samaritan Woman, all very reflective.

At www.ipjc.org, the Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center in Seattle share Prayer Service for the End to Human Trafficking. Click on the website, and click on Human Trafficking Awareness heading. Click on Annotated Human Trafficking Resources and you will find a number of suitable prayer services. Human Trafficking Awareness day in the U.S. is held on 11 January. In Europe the Anti-Trafficking day is 18 October. Australia and other areas have their own Anti-Trafficking Awareness days.

www.acrath.org.au is the website of a coalition of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans. It is inspired by the scripture verse, John 10:10, ‘I came that they may have life and have it to the full.’ It is a very comprehensive site and has many helpful resources for raising awareness among new-comers to the Trafficking issue.

What you can do?

Visit the ACRATH website now- www.acrath.org.au and go to ‘About Us’ and watch the 3 minute video clip on Trading Lives underneath 4 red names squares. Go to Resources on the top bar and click. Then click on the first red box, Be Aware. This opens the Anti-Slavery Australia website and the Factsheets listed are very informative. To the left of this page Resources in black are listed, click on Educational Videos and you will see ‘Slavery Happens Here’, a 6 mins video for school students. This video is made by students from a Secondary College in Sydney and is very worthwhile. When finished close that current tab. You are now back to 4 red boxes Click on ‘Help Trafficked People’ square, on the left-hand side you will see differnt occupations, and click on one that may suit you e.g. For any community member, For a church, and see if you can take action on any of the listed items in your own Local Community, Church or Country. Close that tab.

You are back on the 4 red squares page again. Now click on Article Categories to the right, underneath the video clip you may have already watched, and click on your own area or interest, e.g. Europe. This one opens you to a broad range of websites related to Human Trafficking. Hope this works easily for you.

With some of this introductory information and your interaction with it, you may find that you can contribute in a meaningful way to raising awareness about Human Trafficking issues at local, national and global level.

Prayer: Merciful and caring God, help us to realise that we, too, have a task in this world where markets decide, not only the price of coffee but also that of people. Give us the courage to speak out against injustice and abuse, and to stand with the many invisible people who are put through unimaginable sufferings. We ask this through Christ , our Lord.

Catherine Gibbons rsm