WCC NEWS: Workshop highlights survivors, solutions on World Day Against Human Trafficking

A workshop on 30 July—World Day Against Trafficking in Persons—lifted up voices of survivors and experts, offering global solutions and best practices.  Refugees approach a beach near Molyvos, on the Greek island of Lesbos, on November 2, 2015, after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey. Their boat to Greece was provided by Turkish traffickers to whom the refugees paid huge sums to arrive in Greece. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/Life on Earth 31 July 2024 Co-organized by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation and ecumenical partners in New York, the hybrid event was titled “Strategic Intervention: An ecumenical reflection on human trafficking.” The United Nations Inter Agency Coordinating Group Against Trafficking in Persons estimates that women and girls account for 71% of all trafficked victims. Young girls represent almost three-quarters of identified child trafficking victims. Women represent 96% of victims trafficked for sexual exploitation. “It’s actually very important that we hold governments accountable,” said R. Evon Idahosa, founder and executive director of Pathfinders Justice Initiative. Her organization focuses on advocacy, prevention and protection for survivors, and has worked with more than 5,000 survivors of sex trafficking across Nigeria. Rev. Dr. Angelita Clifton, first vice president of Women in Service Everywhere for the Lott Carey Global Missional Community, underscored the importance of coming alongside the people on the ground working to prevent human trafficking. “This year we focused on the sexual exploitation of children in traveling tourism,” she said. “We understand how important it is for our member bodies to have a broad-based understanding of this issue simply because it’s global.” Rev. Emmanuel Subewope Gabriel, Symbols of Hope Nigeria national coordinator, noted that Nigeria accounts for the highest number of victims or survivors of human trafficking in Africa. Symbols of Hope, a Lutheran World Federation initiative, provides vocational training, livelihoods, and psychosocial support to vulnerable and traumatized returnees in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Two survivors of human trafficking offered stark accounts of what it’s like to be treated as a non-human. ““They forced me to do prostitution,” said one survivor. “I went to prison, I came out—and I still continued what they forced me to do. They forced me to pay $5,000.” The panelists and participants also discussed practical tips and programs for preventing human trafficking. They acknowledged many questions still remaining about what structure and supports they have to not only help victims of human trafficking but identify the vulnerabilities that allow it to happen in the first place. As Malaika Oringo, from Uganda and founder and CEO of Footprint to Freedom, a survivor-led organization, said: “Until we address these questions, our efforts will remain incomplete.” See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland