On September 9 over 50 people attended a forum at Blackhawk Church on human trafficking around the world. Guest speakers were Saejung Lee, an immigration attorney for the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, David Lippiatt, the Executive Director of WE International, a Madison-based non-profit focused on social justice issues and poverty around the world, and Elizabeth Schrader and Jenny Morvak, both on their way to Cambodia to work in an after care facility for six months.
Saujung Lee covered the new Wisconsin law which makes human trafficking a Class D felony. A conviction of a class D felony carries a penalty of a fine not exceeding $100,000, prison time not exceeding 25 years or both. In other words it’s serious. She also cited examples of human trafficking here in Wisconsin and suggested ways for people to respond if they suspect HT is taking place. For more information go to http://www.doj.state.wi.us/cvs/trafficking.asp
David Lippiatt shared his experience in working in SE Asia and Africa with after- care facilities. Two or three times a year David takes teams of volunteers on trips to experience first hand the devastation caused by human trafficking. He made an impassioned appeal for people to respond to this tragedy by helping to increase awareness, raising funds to support the after care facilities, or helping to establish micro enterprise businesses. Since poverty is one of the root causes of human trafficking, the micro-enterprise strategy is designed to create sources of income in places where traffickers "recruit". To learn more about We International go to http://www.weinternational.org/index.html.
Elizabeth Schrader and Jenny Morvak shared how God had directed them minister to victims of human trafficking by using their musical talents in after care facilities in Cambodia. They will be leaving the US for Cambodia in mid-October.
Increased attention is being focused on human trafficking but it remains a major problem:
"Trafficking in human beings is now the third-largest moneymaking venture in the world, after illegal weapons and drugs. In fact, the United Nations estimates that the trade nets organized crime more than $12 billion a year" (Victor Malarek The Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade).
According to a CIA report, 700,000 to 2 million women and children worldwide are victimized by traffickers each year. The UN estimates that around 4 million people a year are now traded against their will to work in some form of slavery. As many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are brought to the U.S. under false pretenses each year and forced to work as prostitutes, abused laborers or servants (Joel Brinkley, New York Times citing CIA report).
There is no "formula" for addressing human trafficking. The audience was encouraged to be open to God’s leading to respond in a sacrificial, meaningful way. Web sites and resources were provided for more information and for ideas on how to respond. For example,
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking in Children for Sexual Purposes