PRAYER:

 

Oh God, we didn't see them.
But you did-
The hundreds and thousands of human beings
Trafficked each year to join the millions who are trapped in
modern-day slavery.
Under terrible conditions, they work in factories, plow fields,
harvest crops, work quarries, fill brothels, clean homes and haul water.
 

Many are children with tiny fingers for weaving rugs
and small shoulders for bearing rifles.
Their labor is forced, their bodies beaten, their faces hidden
from those who don't really want to see them.
 

But you see them all, God of the poor.
You hear their cry and you answer
by opening our eyes, and breaking our hearts
and loosening our tongues to insist:

No más. No more.

 

Amen

 

Source: Catholic Relief Services

 

RESOURCES:

 

End Slavery Now shows us the diverse forms of human trafficking. Read the stories of survivors of child labor, domestic servitude, forced labor, sex trafficking as well as a story of a slave revolt in Uttar Pradesh, India in the 1990s.

 

The U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking offer many educational resources for learning about human trafficking, including podcasts and videos. View the latest issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter or engage an issue on a particular topic related to human trafficking.

 

Listen to The “Center” podcast episodes on “What Does it Mean to Do Anti-Trafficking Work” and “The Landscape of Trafficking in Iowa.”

 

For more information about organizations dedicated to ending human trafficking, click here.

 

 

ACTION:

 

TAKE ACTION: Protect U.S. Youth from Human Trafficking

Congress has the power to help prevent child labor and sex trafficking by passing a law like the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act to provide services and support at that crucial moment to intervene before a child is trafficked and to help them escape exploitative situations. Freedom United invites us to sign a petition to Congress to pass this important legislation to protect youth and prevent trafficking.  TAKE ACTION

 

TAKE ACTION: Increase Funding for Worker Protection Agencies

In 1978, the U.S. government employed one labor inspector for every 69,000 workers. By 2018, the responsibility for each investigator had more than doubled to one inspector for every 175,000 workers.  This is the result of chronic underfunding of the agency charged with protecting workers and it means labor traffickers are able to operate with impunity because they are pretty sure no one is watching.  The Polaris Project urges us to tell Congress to fund the enforcement of existing labor laws and prevent labor trafficking.  TAKE ACTION

 

TAKE ACTION: Support Federal Criminal Records Relief for Survivors

By its very definition, the crime of human trafficking involves being forced, manipulated, or tricked into activities that a person would not otherwise engage in - such as selling sexual services or doing any kind of work without pay. Indeed, the vast majority of trafficking survivors report having a criminal record as a result of having been trafficked. Yet the federal government fails to recognize this. Polaris invites us to tell Congress to reintroduce and support the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act.  TAKE ACTION