Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Sunday and it is no coincidence that it coincides with Super Bowl Sunday. Sadly Super Bowl week is THE biggest trafficking week of the year.
The term “Human Trafficking” was first used in 1988 but has only been in the forefront since 2006.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines human trafficking as organized criminal activity in which human beings are treated as possessions to be controlled and exploited.
Trafficking involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to exploit human beings for some type of labor or commercial sex purpose.
It is akin to modern-day slavery and today there are more than 30 million slaves in the world, more than at any other point in human history.
Human trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigates.
Men, women and children are often lured with false promises of well paying jobs or are being manipulated by the people they trust, but instead are forced or coerced into domestic servitude, farm or factory labor or other types of forced labor and prostitution.
Victor Hugo acknowledged, after the Civil War, that slavery still existed in the form of prostitution.
We need to understand that prostitution does not apply only to women; it applies to men and women, adults and children. These victims are often perceived to be criminals or sexual deviants or at best victims of their environment. Even though these victims are desperate for survival, they do not choose to sell their bodies for profit.
William Wilberforce said, “For trafficking to end it doesn’t need interested observers it needs incurable fanatics. You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
Do you have what it takes to become an incurable fanatic? I don’t know. But I have what it takes. I am an incurable fanatic and it is my mission to make sure you can recognize the signs of human trafficking. If you think that you have encountered a victim of Human Trafficking ask yourself the following questions
- Are they underage and providing commercial sex acts?
- Are they in the commercial sex trade and have a pimp or a manager?
- Are they unpaid, paid very little or paid only through tips?
- Do they exhibit unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement?
- Are they in control of their own money, financial records or bank account?
- Do they have control over their own identification documentation?
- Are they able to speak for themselves or do they always allow others to answer for them?
Just as there is no one consistent face of the trafficking victim, there is no one consistent face of the trafficker. Traffickers included individual pimps, small families or businesses; loose-knit decentralized criminal networks and international organized crime syndicates.
These criminals hide in the shadows. An illicit network of traffickers, pimps, recruiters, brothel owners, and johns preys on vulnerable men, women and children and forces them into a life of sexual commerce.
With all of this being said it is important to dispel certain misconceptions where human trafficking is concerned.
- Trafficking does not require physical force, physical abuse or physical restraint. Psychological means of control, such as threats, or abuse of the legal process are sufficient elements of the crime.
- Victims often do not immediately seek help or self-identify as victims of a crime due to lack of trust, self-blame or training by the traffickers.
- Although poverty is highly correlated with human trafficking because it is often an indicator of vulnerability, poverty alone in not a single causal factor or universal indicator of a human trafficking victim.
- A victim cannot consent to be in a situation of human trafficking. Initial consent is not relevant to the crime, neither is payment.
As Catholics we must pledge to use the resources of the Church and community to help end this affliction. We must also pledge to use our teaching authority to educate Catholics and others about human trafficking. Human trafficking is a horrific crime against the basic dignity and rights of the human person. All efforts must be expended to end it. In the end, we must work together—Church, state, and community—to eliminate the root causes and markets that permit traffickers to flourish; to make whole the survivors of this crime; and to ensure that, one day soon, trafficking in human persons vanishes from the face of the earth.
Florida’s Catholic communities represent a tremendous source of support for trafficking victims. Some Catholic Charities offices in
Now you must educate yourself… watch a movie/video about human trafficking, read a book, go to polarisproject.org, watch for news stories on television, attend a community class on the subject of Human Trafficking. Keep your eyes open…LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE. Report suspicious activity to the authorities and pray for victims and traffickers.
For more information please pick up today’s bulletin for a copy of the Prayer to End Human Trafficking. I encourage you to pray with your Catholic community so you too can be an advocate and a voice for the invisible victims and End Human Trafficking.
Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about the subject of Human Trafficking. Through education we can bring awareness. Through awareness we can provide help. Through help we can provide hope. Our Catholic Faith Calls Us To Action!