Members of the PC(USA)’s Human Trafficking Roundtable (HTR) led Wednesday’s worship service raising awareness around human trafficking, sex trafficking and forced labor.
January 11 is designated as annual Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the United States. In understanding human trafficking, it’s useful to start with a game of word association. When people think about the concept of “human trafficking” their responses might include prostitution, pornography, massage parlors or nail salons, southeast Asia, inner cities or the Super Bowl.
Beyond the white sand beaches, palm trees and luxury oceanfront properties lies another Miami—in the lives of marginalized people who have arrived in this city full of promise and culture. Three Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are focusing their energies on residents of this other Miami, spending a year of service and learning in the community.
Do churches care about working people? The Social Creed for the 21st Century says yes. Right after its adoption in 2008, for example, it was invoked to support ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage. So how did the 33 churches in the National Council of Churches reach agreement to update the original Social Creed of 1908? The answer is threefold and gives us hope for ecumenical cooperation to advocate for working people.
At least two and a half million people are trapped in modern-day slavery according to information released by the United Nations in 2015. One in four of those who are kidnapped, tricked or manipulated into some form of slavery such as forced labor, organ removal or prostitution is a child.
Making inroads against human trafficking
When Jill Bolander Cohen’s stepdaughter called her one afternoon, she didn’t expect her stepdaughter to be asking for her to help a high school victim of human trafficking. “This young woman’s mother sold her to a trafficker for $25,000,” Cohen says. “Her mother needed the money to open and operate her business, and the young woman’s trafficker was shipping her around the country as she worked to pay back her mother’s debts.”
App helps students identify red flags and false leads of traffickers
A new anime-style gaming app for mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, has an extraordinary mission: to keep children and young adults, ages 11 to 14, from becoming victims of human traffickers.
Estimates of the number of victims vary widely, but the International Labour Organization calculates that 21 million people are in forced labor. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), spurred by its General Assembly, is seeking to become more aware and involved at every level of the denomination.
The following article was originally printed in theJanuary/February 2016 issue, “Children of God—not for sale,” of Presbyterians Today. When Jill Bolander Cohen’s stepdaughter called her one afternoon, she didn’t expect… Read more »
By Wayne Gnatuk | Self-Development of People Lydia finally escaped. From the Philippines, she had come to the United States as a volunteer with her church’s religious mission. At first,… Read more »
