Each year an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 people fall prey to international human traffickers.
Mostly women and children, the victims are forced or tricked into sexual or labor exploitation -- a modern form of slavery that victim rights groups say is growing around the world.
Yet because human trafficking is intensely secretive and kept underground, it's not easy to identify victims or bring traffickers to justice.
Participants at a July 20-22 national conference in Baltimore were urged to raise awareness about trafficking in their home dioceses so that victims can be recognized and supported by diocesan and parish leaders.
The conference on trafficking, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of Catholic Women, drew 77 women religious and other women.
"This is a pervasive evil that is not being addressed as it should be," said Buena Reese of the Diocese of Richmond, Va. "I don't think most people have even heard of it. They know about trafficking of drugs and the trafficking of things, but they don't know about the trafficking of people."
Sister Mary Ellen Dougherty, a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame who works with the U.S. bishops' Migration and Refugee Services in Washington, said much progress has been made in the last four years since Congress passed the Trafficking and Violence Victims Protection Act. The measure increased the penalties against those who engage in human trafficking.
"I think there's lots of hope," said Sister Dougherty in an interview with The Catholic Review, newspaper of the Baltimore Archdiocese. "Five hundred victims have been identified in four years. But that's not nearly enough."
Sister Dougherty, who is manager for outreach, education and technical assistance in MRS' human trafficking program, noted that although about one-third of victims of human trafficking in the United States are believed to be children only 34 children were among the 500 that have been identified since 2000.
In recent years, two victims have been identified in Baltimore -- including one from Cameroon, according to Sister Dougherty. There are many more, she said, but the hidden nature of the crime makes it difficult to find people trapped in the trafficking network.
While she has no firsthand knowledge of trafficking in the Baltimore area, Sister Dougherty said she has heard from other sources that the region serves as a place where victims are sometimes detained before being moved to other cities like Philadelphia and New York. The city's proximity to Interstate 95 makes it convenient for human trade, she said.
The U.S. government estimates that approximately 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the United States each year. Victims are fearful of turning to the government for help because they are told by their traffickers that they will be arrested for prostitution or immigration violations.
"Victims often turn to the church for help," said Sister Dougherty.
During the conference, participants were presented with a wide range of ideas on ways their dioceses can make a difference. Writing editorials in local newspapers, establishing safe houses, working with labor organizations and contacting state's attorneys were among the ways the women said their diocesan and parish leaders could reach out to victims and stop traffickers.
Sister Dorothy Pilkington, a Sister of St. Joseph from Holyoke, Mass., said it is crucial to raise awareness about the cultures from which victims originate.
Many countries -- especially those in East Africa -- have laws written into their constitutions that give men the right to beat women, she said.
"In many cases, women do not have a voice," she said. "They can't say no to a man."
Sister Melania Tarimo, a Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood, who is an international student from Tanzania, said there are many people in Africa who are too trusting of foreigners. It is easy to trick them into the trade, she said.
Sister Dougherty described a recent case in which an American went to Africa to lure parents into letting their children join a choir he was forming that would go on tour. Once the choir was established, he took the money and abused the children for manual labor, she said.
Human trafficking was also the focus of a national conference held in mid-July in Tampa, Fla., and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Keynote speaker Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, N.J., said the hidden nature of trafficking requires a redoubling of efforts to find its victims, most of whom "live in fear behind doors locked by those who exploit them."
He noted that the geographic area his archdiocese covers is small but densely populated, rich with ethnic variety and "an ever-changing crossroads of immigrants and newcomers."
At the same time, he said, its pockets of ethnic isolation and avenues of entry for immigrants, both legal and illegal, make it "fertile ground" for "a market in human souls."
"If we are to find these victims and restore them to freedom and health, we must look again at what is before us," Archbishop Myers said July 16. "We must relentlessly search for what we hope in our hearts we will not find.
"Find it, however, we must. The economic magnitude of human trafficking is comparable...to the illegal arms trade: It is exceeded only by the trade in illegal narcotics," he added. "This tells us that the victims are there. We must go where they are." -- CNS |