Ending slavery

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

Despite what many Americans may think, slavery in the United States did not stop with enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 or the end of the Civil War in 1865.

Human slavery continues today in the United States and around the world, according to recent reports from the U.S. State Department and United Nations.

The State Department's 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report cites an estimate from the UN's International Labor Organization that says "there are 12.3 million people in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude at any given time; other estimates range from 4 million to 27 million."

U.S. Government-sponsored research completed in 2006, estimated that some 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders and millions more are trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80% of transnational victims are women and girls; up to 50% are minors.

Some trafficking victims are forced, for example, to serve as child soldiers in Burma, untangle fishing lines in Ghana or weave carpets in India. But most become sexual slaves through prostitution, forced marriages or household servants. For example, the State Department report cited the case of Jenny, a 14-year-old Nigerian girl who came to the U.S. to care for the children of an African family. But, "the reality was very different. For five years Jenny was repeatedly raped by her employer and his wife physically assaulted her, sometimes with a cane, and on one occasion with a high-heeled shoe." Law enforcement officials eventually rescued Jenny and prosecuted the perpetrators.

As Mark Lagon, director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, put it, human trafficking "treats people like they are not human."

Countries whose citizens are most likely to become victims of human trafficking are Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, China, Lithuania, Nigeria, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Thailand and Ukraine, the UN reported. Brazil, Mexico, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, India, the Philippines, Poland and Vietnam are among numerous other nations with high rates of trafficking victims.

While most victims remain in their own country, some, as the State Department noted, are sent to other countries. The UN found that while most victims of transnational trafficking are from developing countries, the countries that rank highest as destination sites are Belgium, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Thailand, Turkey and the U.S.

The Bush Administration and the United Nations both deserve praise for their attention to this issue, as do Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Vatican.

Much remains to be done to raise awareness and end human trafficking, whose victims need our prayers. To read the State Department report go to www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/82799.htm. The UN report is at www.unodc.org/pdf/traffickinginpersons_report_2006ver2.pdf.