Reach Every Victim of Trafficking, Leave No One Behind
Anna (not her real name), orphaned in her early teens, was struggling to make a living on the streets of a large city in South East Asia. Desperately searching for a way out of her poverty, Anna met a man online who promised her marriage, and brought her to Australia only to abandon her some months later. Anna, distraught and alone was instant prey for a woman who offered to help, promising a room and a job – the promise turned out to be servitude in a Melbourne brothel.
“Reach every victim, leave no one behind” is the theme of this year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (30 July). Human trafficking is an insidious global industry focused on the exploitation of men, women and children in enforced labour, prostitution, domestic work and other forms of slavery. Children in areas of conflict such as Ukraine or Sudan are particularly vulnerable to traffickers. Increasingly social media is a tool for traffickers luring desperate people into sexual and labour servitude.
Australia is not immune from slavery and the Australian Federal Police report that one of the most common forms of trafficking is forced marriage. Australian Catholic Religious Against Humans (ACRATH) runs programs, supported by Mary Ward International Australia (MWIA), in schools across Australia, to help students and teachers recognise the signs that someone is about to be taken overseas, against her will, to meet her arranged husband. Such marriages are frequently abusive, violent and controlling. Isolating the wife from her family and friends is a common mode of control.
Labour trafficking, particularly in Australian agriculture and hospitality, is unfortunately quite common. In response to an invitation from her cousin, Abida came to Australia to work in the family restaurant. Working 16 hours a day, without pay, preparing food, washing, and cleaning, and sleeping on the floor in a storage room became a way of life for Abida. She was told this was necessary to pay off her fare and her accommodation.
Mary Ward International Australia (MWIA), the Loreto Sisters’ Aid and Development Agency, is particularly focused on the welfare of women and girls. All too aware of the vulnerability of women and girls to human trafficking MWIA works with local Loreto Sisters and organisations to develop programs that provide education and support for women in their villages and workplaces. In Dharan, Nepal, girls from disadvantaged families receive an education that equips them with the skills to earn a living, contribute to their communities and recognise trafficking in its many forms. Women and children working on tea plantations in India, largely illiterate, often itinerant, and unaware of their rights, are frequently underpaid, overworked and exploited. MWIA supports a program of access to Legal Aid with “barefoot lawyers” who advise women of their rights and entitlements, enabling them to take a stand against exploitative employers. If a case has to go to court they access lawyers and encourage the women to stand against their servitude.
One way of responding to this World Day Against Human Trafficking, “leaving no victim of trafficking behind,” is to donate to MWIA programs which educate, equip and strengthen women in their stand against human trafficking.
Author: Sr Libby Rogerson ibvm, Loreto Justice Network