Anglican Communion News Service

What parent would not want to give their child an opportunity for a better life? As a migrant farm worker, 7-year-old Nagesh’s father could not afford to feed his family, so when a man offered Nagesh a part-time job in the tourist industry, the father quickly agreed. Little did he know that just one week later, Nagesh would begin a long ordeal of exploitation and abuse by sex tourists.

Ten year-old Jyothi’s father was an alcoholic and her mother was the sole bread winner for their large family. When a stranger offered to take Jyothi to Delhi and give her a full time job, her mother quickly agreed. Upon arrival, however, Jyothi was auctioned off as a domestic worker and was plunged into a horrific life of physical and sexual abuse. 

When poverty and desperation collide with the desire for cheap labor and sexual adventure/promiscuity, prostitution and other forms of human trafficking flourish. Every day, all over the globe, thousands of poor women and children are deceived or abducted, sold and abused. 

In Monday’s Spouses Conference session on Modern Day Slaveries, Dr Carrie Pemberton observed that over 16,000 women have recently been moved into Britain’s sex market. Mrs. Ruth Bakare shared that as Zimbabwe’s economy disintegrates, more and more women are forced into prostitution as they simply have no other way of earning money to feed their children. The Rev’d Canon Dorothy Lau told of the bride trade and exploitation of domestic workers in Hong Kong. Similar stories can be told in each of our countries. Canon Ian Sparks reminded us that men need to get involved in the fight against human trafficking as well - it is not simply a “women’s issue”.

The news is so bad and so overwhelming that it is potentially paralyzing. But there is much that we can do. 

First, we must recognize that human trafficking is present in all of our countries.

Second, we must all be alert for people who might be trapped in an abusive situation. On a visit to a parishioner’s home, one Methodist minister noticed a very distraught young woman who she had not met before. When she asked the family about the newcomer, she learned that the woman’s husband had taken her to Delhi airport the day after their wedding, and sold her to traffickers. She was flown to London, where she was forced to work as an exotic dancer in a bar until her extended family found her and rescued her. After hearing this, the minister and the family contacted CHASTE (Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe;), a local counter-abuse network.   Eventually, local police broke up the trafficking ring.   

We can establish relationships with counter-abuse networks such as CHASTE (www.chaste.uk.org), Not For Sale (www.notforsaleuk.org) and other groups such as Inter Anglican Family Network. http://iafn.anglicancommunion.org

Another excellent resource is Dr Pemberton’s new book, The Real Scandal of Sex Trafficking: A Resource for Worship, Education and Action (Kevin Mayhew, 2008), which is available for sale in the Marketplace and is an excellent resource for parishes.