Human Trafficking

Just read that women religious from around the world have gathered at the Vatican for a conference, "Female Religious in Network against Trafficking in Persons". Scheduled for June 15--18, the conference has been organised by the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

The Catholic Church possesses an amazing, international network of committed women religious ideally suited to address the tragic reality of human trafficking.

"Participating in today's press conference were Fr. Eusebio Hernandez Sola O.A.R., bureau chief at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Sr. Victoria Gonzales de Castejon R.S.C.J., secretary general of the UISG; Carmela Godeau, vice head of mission of the IOM; Sr. Bernadette Sangma F.M.A., and Stefano Volpicelli of the IOM.

"The problem of human trafficking represents a new form of slavery of the twenty-first century, one that offends the dignity and freedom of many women and minors, but also of youths and adult men, most of them from poor countries" said Fr. Hernandez Sola. "These new forms of poverty remind us that religious life is, by vocation, called to play a prophetic role in society and the Church today. A new conception of charity must carry consecrated life to the new frontiers of evangelisation, and to the new forms of poverty, among the most serious of which is the loss of personal dignity".

Many years ago, I was introduced to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Nongkhai, Thailand, near the Laotian border. The order was founded to assist women in trouble. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, one group of Good Shepherd sisters --- who had worked to rehabilitate South Vietnamese prostitutes, as well as to assist South Vietnamese widows and their children -- decided to move to Thailand, support the work of the order in that country, and also target the sex trade in Bangkok. 

Their mission in Thailand involved two equally important efforts: In Bangkok, they provided services for women and children, including the rehabilitation of prostitutes. In Nongkhai, an impoverished region that had supplied many young girls for the sex trade in Bangkok, they provided educational, vocational skills and seed money for small handicrafts businesses that made it possible for struggling families and their daughters consider a different future. 

The Sisters of the Good Shepherd, like many other religious orders working in the trenches, are ideally suited to assist with a broader effort to confront human trafficking throughout the globe. During my visit to Thailand, I recall the sisters' stories of going toe to toe with pimps outside their convent in Bangkok. Their ministry takes courage, intelligence and experience. Part of their effort should include the education of American Catholics. The Bush administration made an effort to address this scourge in its foreign policy initiatives. Hopefully, the women religious gathered in Rome will bring their story to the U.S. media.

Those who seek to better understand the reality of human trafficking in women and children should read the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof's fine reporting.