Church on the frontlines in fight against human trafficking
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| 8 February International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. |
February 8 marks the International Day of Prayer and
Awareness Against Human Trafficking, a global phenomenon that Pope Francis has
repeatedly condemned describing it as a wound in the side of humanity.
By Linda Bordoni
A prayer vigil takes place in Rome’s Basilica of St. John
Lateran on the evening of February 8 to mark the International
Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking that takes
place, this year, on the theme “Together against Human trafficking”.
The vigil is officiated by Fr Michael Czerny and Fr
Fabio Baggio, Under-Secretaries of the Migrants & Refugees Section of
the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
St. Josephine Bakhita
People are also gathering across the world in prayer and
observance of the Day which was established by Pope Francis in 2015, marking
the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, who was kidnapped as a child and sold
into slavery in her home country of Sudan. She gained her freedom in Italy,
became a Canossian Sister, and dedicated her life to helping the poor
and testifying against slavery.
At the launch on Thursday in the Vatican of this year’s
International Day, Jesuit Father Michael Czerny said the Migrants and Refugees
Section has just released an educational booklet entitled "Pastoral
Orientations on Human Trafficking” that aims to provide in-depth information
about the phenomenon as wells as tools to help combat it.
Pastoral Orientations
The “Pastoral Orientations”, he says, help us to see more
clearly why the depravity of human trafficking continues to persist in the 21st century.
“Is it simply,” he asks, “because human trafficking and
slavery are very profitable?”
Fr. Czerny explains the document also helps us to
understand, even more deeply, “how the ugly, evil business of human trafficking
operates.”
“It stays hidden, and invisible, but it functions nearly
everywhere, like corruption,” he says.
He emphasizes that it is the State that must “protect
citizens and residents from entrapment and slavery”, however he adds, there is
no visible effort to prosecute and punish on the part of the State.
The Pastoral Orientations, Fr. Czerny says, are a tool that
can help us to respond here and now, and to commit long-term.
What can you and I do?
“The question is: what can you and I do to help alleviate
human trafficking?” he says.
Pointing out that this is the core question behind the World
Day of Awarness and Prayer, Fr. Czerny notes that the testimonies of
survivors describe the “unimaginable deception, coercion and suffering” they
have been through and witness to “what can be stolen from a human life for the
pleasure and profit of others”.
“It is inconceivable – until you listen to a survivor – how
it happened to him or to her,” he says.
“At the heart of each survivor’s story is the inviolable,
sacred dignity of every human person,” he says, concluding that “at the heart
of each survivor’s liberation is the solidarity of others.”
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