Trafficking prevention programs
By Chris Wolf
Where poverty is widespread, it is easy to see how families want desperately to believe that the promise of lucrative work as a maid or factory worker would help secure a brighter future for a daughter, and perhaps even her family. Yet these promises often are lies that lure girls into human trafficking for sex work.
If a girl is lucky enough to be rescued from trafficking, shame and stigma often prevent her from returning to her village. Rehabilitation and skills training programs that help women rebuild their lives often are prohibitively expensive to set up, so the Diocese of Durgapur in the Church of North India is attempting to come at the problem by preventing trafficking.
The Diocese of Durgapur is in the state of West Bengal, which borders Bangladesh. Crossing national borders is a way that traffickers isolate their victims, so traffickers often cross their victims over this border. In cooperation with the Church of Bangladesh, the diocese has launched education programs in the villages of the diocese, informing parents that girls who come home from their jobs as maids with nice clothes and wealth are a rare exception, not the standard. The diocese works to unmask local traffickers and expose the truth about the work that young girls end up doing after they leave home. Diocesan representatives also work with police on both sides of the border to make them more mindful of the problem, and of the need to make trafficking more difficult and less profitable.
Chris traveled to India in October 2011 with Presbyterian Women’s Global Exchange.
Invite the participant from your synod to your next event to share more insights from this life-changing trip.
Previous reflection | Next reflection
