HUMAN TRAFFICKING  (article)

Shelley E. Brand, “Using the DVD “Not For Sale” for instruction about Human Trafficking,” CYS, 2008.

 

OVERVIEW

 

Slavery, for most of us, is a horrific act of oppression and injustice in the past. Too often such misinformation enables us to live in denial naively pretending that ‘far’ away suffering is somehow less real and denying the suffering taking place around the world and close to home. More than 1 million victims of human trafficking reside in the dark underworld of the U.S. alone.

 

Today, there are more slaves than at the height of the African slave trade—eighty percent of them being women and children. Human trafficking and slaveholding is the fastest growing criminal activity on the globe, boasting as a $30 billion a year industry, more than that of drugs. Adding to the disheartening statistics, 1 million children a year are forced into prostitution, with victims being as possibly young as 6 months old.

 

Thankfully, there are modern-day emancipators answering the call to combat present day slavery. Marie Vermeiren’s Not for Sale (A CATW DVD) presents sobering truths about human trafficking in specific regions of the world, as well as organizations and people fighting against this injustice. The video provides a realistic knowledge base for understanding the issue of human trafficking, with hope demonstrated by the efforts of eight different organizations working for justice: Nightlight, Polaris, Hagar, Regina Pacis, World Vision-Uganda, Generacion, Florida Coalition, and the International Justice Mission.

 

FINDINGS

 

The first case of human trafficking specified was in Thailand, where a pervasive sex-industry feeds on the problems created by the cities’ rapid industrialization and immigration rates. Annie Dieselberg established Nightlight Design as a jewelry store that enabled women who were formerly in prostitution or sold into the sex trade to have a practical means to remove them from their entangling situations of bondage. Dieselberg said that women from all over the world, including Los Angeles, Saudi Arabia, and Hong Kong for instance, are sent there to Thailand for the industry. She befriends these women, and listening to their stories (a tool so often underestimated), she has come to find that most of them desire to be out of their situations, but have come to believe that it is all they can do to survive. Nightlight Design spoke directly to this issue, and as an organization reaches out to women in prostitution who are at risk, or already involved, in the sex industry. Provided the opportunity, many of these women wanted to do otherwise; Nightlight is the merciful agent for such. It is now a registered Thai company where the women not only make jewelry, which is a job that offers them dignity, but they are also offered English courses, spiritual formation classes, and other life-skills such as that of cooking, parenting, budgeting, and more so that there is a hope for  holistic transformation with them women.

 

A second case of human trafficking, and an agent of justice over this issue was shown through the Polaris Project. Named after the North Star, which was the star that guided the slaves to the Underground Railroad, it has worked both to stop global slave trading and to influence U. S. laws. Polaris works to establish local volunteer chapters at the grassroots level in order to first, merely inform people of this issue that is the third largest criminal industry in the world. Seeking to change laws at the federal and state level, so that then systems will adjust to protect future victims, they rightly acknowledge that there is a role for everyone in this issue, be it in sharing knowledge, skills, experience, or financial assistance. Lastly, and a practical way of involvement, is their fellowship program where people from across the country volunteer for 3-4 months to work at the front lines of anti-trafficking, and then return to their local communities for mobilization; one chapter being in Boston.

 

A third site is San Voca, a village off the southern tip of Italy, serving as an unfortunate stopover of the Balkan trial where thousands of girls are trafficked each year into brothels. Regina Pacis is a shelter for the women refugees there.

 

Shocking to many, the state of Florida was named in 2003 as one of the top states in the United States for slavery. Prostitution, agriculture, and domestic works are the venues in which this occurs. Anna Rodriguez, who established the Florida Coalition, seeks to defeat human trafficking through home visits, understanding the problems in the source countries and establishing relationships with them, and trying to bring education to both the US and abroad. The specific countries of Cambodia and Peru were named as examples of paramount injustice through human trafficking in both the sex-trade industry and children being enslaved to fight in guerrilla wars. Hagar’s Shelter and Generacion, respectively, exist in these countries as havens for justice. In East Africa, a center of humanitarian crises, in political corruption and poverty, World Vision-Uganda helps young boys escape from the nightmare life as a forced soldier and young women from the sex-trade. Lastly, the International Justice Mission is a human-rights agency in Washington, D.C. that works to rescue those of violence, oppression, sexual exploitation, and slavery from around the world. Gary Haugen, CEO and President, fights in training advocates to work the system so relentlessly and train local authorities and courts, while equipping them with resources, so that authority figures can actually render justice for those beneath them. He fights for the poor getting the benefit of the law, an incredibly important and often underutilized tool as it seems to be such a daunting task.

 

CONCLUSIONS

           

Abraham Lincoln called upon the living to increase their commitment and their honor so that those heroic dead would not have died in vain. Change must happen. But it only happens, as the DVD points out, when we are willing to talk about the unpleasant things. It is here though, that change can begin with the ‘ordinary’ person. These organizations testify that ordinary people can be agents of justice, in the Lord’s power, over such an overwhelming act of suffering and exploitation.

 

CRITIQUE

           

Though the DVD was very helpful in highlighting the responsibility and possibility we all have in wrestling for justice, I was disappointed that more emphasis was not given to the ‘victims’ stories, rather than its heavy slant towards the organizations. As crucial and necessary as its emphasis on these programs is, I needed to hear a bit more from the victims and felt a bit misled by the title of the documentary.

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

 

1. What was your level of awareness of human-trafficking, both globally and domestically? Has this introduction increased your awareness or encouraged you to look further into this injustice?

2. Do you feel that you have a responsibility towards justice?

3. Do you feel that you could do anything about issues of injustice such as human-trafficking?

4. In your opinion, Why is holistic response, such as mentioned in the Nightlight Design and Generacion important?

5) Think about your state of privilege in comparison to those exploited, forced into prostitution, sold by their parents for money (such as in Peru), or forced into guerilla warfare such as the young teenage boys in east Africa. How does this make you feel?

IMPLICATIONS

 

1. What do you feel you can do over an area of injustice? Would you consider this to be a part of your own spirituality and faith commitment?

2. Do you feel able to talk about this instance of injustice and these organizations or with others such as your peers, family, or co-workers? Knowledge is often a great beginning of responsible action.

3. How does dealing with this issue change your view of yourself? Of God? And what are you to do with those changes?

 

The DVD Not for Sale (don’t confuse with other videos) was by filmed by Marie Vermeiren and produced by the joint Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW)-European Women’s Lobby (EWL) on the prevention of trafficking. It can be ordered through the CATW website at: http://www.catwinternational.org/ for $25.00. The approximate film length is 1.23 hours.

 

Shelly E. Bland c. CYS