Eight Ways Your Ministry Can Fight Human Trafficking

Eighty percent of human trafficking victims are women. And Christian women can do much to stand against the evil of human slavery. What can your group do? A lot!

1. Repent if you have benefited from the sex industry. See Sharifa Stevens’s post about that.

2. Pray. See Gail Seidel’s post about that.

My friend Linda Tomczak, who works tirelessly to fight human trafficking, has some additional suggestions for how ministries can work to stop this injustice against women.

3. Learn. Educate yourself and those you influence. For starters, here are a few facts about human trafficking:

After drug dealing, human trafficking (both sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labor) is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and it is the fastest growing (source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services).
Worldwide, there are nearly two million children in the commercial sex trade (source: UNICEF).
There are an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 children, women and men trafficked across international borders annually (source: U.S. Department of State).
Approximately 80 percent of human trafficking victims are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors (source: U.S. Department of State).
The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion (source: U.N.).
Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic (source: U.S. Department of State).

These resources will help you educate your group:

Slavery 101 is a very informative twelve-minute video on multiple aspects of slavery.
The Love146 website contains a wealth of information, survivors’ stories, videos, and ways to make a difference.
Free the Captives Houston provides a comprehensive resource for current trafficking issues, updated regularly.

An attorney who prosecutes human trafficking cases said one of her biggest challenges is convincing a jury that this sort of thing really happens. Most are so overwhelmed by the horrors of the case that they have difficulty believing it’s true. Your group can help educate others about trafficking, so, should they have the opportunity to serve as jurors on a human trafficking case, they are able to listen objectively and rule fairly.

4. Publicize 888-373-7888. This is the number of the hotline at the National Human Trafficking Resource Center sponsored by the Polaris Project. The line is staffed 24/7, with multiple language interpreters available. Include a bulletin announcement, a newsletter announcement, a Facebook post and/or a tweet instructing people to save this number in their cell phones. Encourage readers to report suspicious behavior or actual instances of human trafficking. Teach them the signs that might indicate that a child is a trafficking victim.

5. Take a team of women to your local juvenile detention facility. Recruit volunteers to mentor inmates and/or teach life skills. Many traffic victims wind up in juvenile detention because no aftercare facilities exist and their homes are abusive. Such young women are often hungry to know God and His transforming power. Contact your local facility to find out policies and requirements.

6. Engage media. Host a film night with a panel discussion and refreshments afterward. Suggested films:

Also, the award-winning movie, Human Trafficking, featuring Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland, is a fictional thriller that gives viewers a realistic view of the life of trafficking victims and shows how easily young women can become ensnared in the trafficking network. But know that this is not a movie for children.

You can also set up a google alert. Just type “human trafficking” in the search query, adjust the preferences to your liking, and you can receive a daily or weekly email with the latest articles or blogs, including links and brief synopses, about this—or any—subject.

7. Host a dinner. Invite others who need to know and/or who share your concern for the oppressed. Discuss the issue of human trafficking and brainstorm to pool your resources and apply your ideas. Invite a speaker from an anti-trafficking ministry to address your church or home group. International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org) has produced an informative thirty-minute DVD for this purpose, and IJM can also provide speakers for groups and events. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center offers comprehensive training for organizations and ministries.

8. Encourage every family to sponsor at least one child. Poverty makes populations more vulnerable to traffickers’ lies. So encourage sponsorships in areas of the world where child sex-trafficking is most prevalent. Trafficking exists everywhere, but India, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Eastern Europe, parts of Africa, Haiti, and the Philippines are especially vulnerable.Compassion International, Gospel for Asia, World Vision, and several other organizations offer sponsorships for children at risk. They encourage individual rather than group sponsors.

For even more information, check out Linda’s list of 20 ways you can help. And I might add that in a March 2012 Christianity Today article about the most effective strategies for helping the poor, “sponsoring a child” received the highest rating for long-term development interventions. Child sponsorship both prevents trafficking and gives kids the best shot at escaping poverty. To me that sounds a lot like “doing justice” (Micah 6:8)!

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