Human trafficking

Richard A. Sokerka

Most of us know that the crime of human trafficking is rampant around the globe, but think it’s not so much of a problem in the United States. But that’s just not the case. A new global report has found much higher rates of modern-day slavery here than previously believed — with the report stating that as many as 1 in 800 Americans is currently a victim of human trafficking.

For the United States especially, said, Andrew Forrest, founder of the Global Slavery Index, the report is “a huge wakeup call.”

Forrest said, “We cannot sit back while millions of women, girls, men and boys are having their lives destroyed and their potential extinguished by criminals seeking a quick profit.”

The 2018 report estimated that an alarming number — 403,000 people — are trapped in modern slavery in the U.S. — seven times higher than previous figures indicated.

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented the U.S. State Department’s 2018 Trafficking in Persons report recently, he emphasized that the problem of trafficking is one that is found much closer to home than most Americans realize. “Human trafficking can be found in your favorite restaurant, a hotel, in our downtowns, a farm, or in their neighbor’s home.”

Earlier this year, President Trump signed a measure aimed at curbing online sex trafficking, marking a rare bipartisan victory in Washington. The new law paves the way for victims of sex trafficking to hold websites accountable for knowingly facilitating sex trafficking. “Trafficking is probably worse today than at any time in our history,” the President said during the signing ceremony. “

Pope Francis has made fighting human trafficking a priority during his papacy, having said, “It is a disgrace” that persons “are treated as objects, deceived, assaulted, often sold many times for different purposes and, in the end, killed or, in any case, physically and mentally harmed, ending up discarded and abandoned.” In his 2015 World Day of Peace message, he appealed to “all men and women of good will” and to “the highest levels of civil institutions” who witness “the scourge of contemporary slavery.” He urged them “not to become accomplices to this evil, not to turn away from the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings, who are deprived of their freedom and dignity.” In addition, the Vatican has organized numerous conferences on human trafficking, focused on both raising awareness and discussing means of fighting modern-day slavery and helping victims reintegrate into society.

The startling statistics attesting to the number of people in our nation alone who are trapped in human trafficking should make us all stand up and take action. Fol­low­ing the Pope’s lead, Catholics need to be involved in a grass-roots response starting at the parish level to begin to put an end to this grave sin against the dignity of the human person.