Moving against trafficking

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

Human trafficking - the movement of people from one country to another by force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation, slave labor or domestic servitude - continues to be a serious world problem.

The United States government estimates that more than 600,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. They are then forced to work as slaves or in near slavery conditions, as domestic help, as prostitutes, in sweatshops or begging rings, as migrant labor, child soldiers or to harvest their organs for transplants. An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 people - one-third of them minors - are trafficked into the U.S. annually.

So it was welcome news last month that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops received a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contract worth at least $500,000 and up to $6 million a year to aid victims of human trafficking.

The contract will fund direct services to trafficking victims by the USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services and has a yearly renewal option for up to four more years.

Julianne Duncan, associate director for children's services at Migration and Refugee Services, told Catholic News Service that MRS will use local service agencies across the country to help victims with housing, medical care, food stamps and referrals for pro bono legal help.

The Catholic Church has been a leader in efforts to raise awareness of the trafficking problem and to provide services to the thousands of people brought into the U.S. each year.

Human trafficking is a terrible abuse that must be halted. Catholics should point with pride to efforts by the church to assist victims and to raise awareness of the problem. We all need to back the strong efforts of the Bush Administration to stop the trafficking of humans.