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Human Trafficking
Dominican sisters take part in efforts to raise awareness
New Jersey: Caldwell Sisters Join Efforts to Abolish Human Trafficking
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“If you think its not happening in a neighborhood near your home, you’re probably wrong.” New Jersey ranks among the top U.S. states for Human Trafficking crimes—the enslavement of men, women and children for sexual and labor exploitation. At a recent National Human Trafficking Awareness Day symposium in Trenton, three Caldwell Dominican Sisters—deMontfort Kinchellagh, OP, Mary John Kearney, OP, and Catherine Reilly, OP—members of the Caldwell Dominican Commission on Global Issues, distributed information and newsletters that evidence the extensive degree to which human trafficking occurs in New Jersey.
As she handed out recent copies of the “Stop Trafficking” newsletter and other resource materials, Sister Catherine urged participants “to get informed, get involved and act.” The Stop Trafficking online newsletter serves as a forum for exchange among religious congregations and their collaborating organizations to promote awareness about human trafficking and also to exchange best practices in advocacy for and empowerment of survivors of human trafficking. The many conference participants who visited the Caldwell display were grateful for the information the sisters offered to them, including resource suggestions for action plans to abolish this 21st century evil.
Wisconsin: Congregations Collaborate to Address Sex Trafficking at Super Bowl
Upon learning their Green Bay Packers would be playing in the Super Bowl, 12 Wisconsin congregations of women religious collaborated in an effort to raise awareness about sex trafficking at the Super Bowl. They sent personalized letters to each of the Packer players, team leaders, team chaplain, Super Bowl Committee members, and Wisconsin bishops, asking each group to use their influence and position to speak out against human trafficking. Sinsinawa Dominicans and Racine Dominicans were among the congregations collaborating in this effort.
After congratulating the players on their victory in the play-offs, the letters to Packer players stated:
As you may know, the Super Bowl is among the very worst venues for human trafficking. The Dallas Examiner noted on Jan. 14: “The Super Bowl is the pinnacle American sporting event, and a surge in prostitution will happen in this year’s host city of Dallas. To meet the demand, many prostitutes will be brought in, including children and teens. Many of these will be forced victims, literally being sex slaves for human traffickers.”
The exploitation of children is a heinous crime, and we implore you as a dad, an uncle, brother or even friend to consider the children you love and how devastated you would feel if one of them was kidnapped and used as a victim of sex crimes. This is happening at an alarming rate and must be stopped.
We are asking you and your teammates to use your position as respected sports figures and seize this critical time surrounding the Super Bowl to advocate publicly for an end to trafficking. It is a scandalous form of modern day slavery that victimizes women, children and men, and is now considered—along with arms and drug dealing—the second largest criminal industry in the world.
Milwaukee's Channel 12 WISN-TV covered the story: Watch video
Links
Stop Trafficking!
Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter
Dallas Cowboy fights Super Bowl human trafficking
Dallas Examiner (Examiner.com)
Jan. 14, 2011
Coalition launches campaign for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (Change.org)