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.”