This is a huge problem – overwhelming in its dimensions. However, if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem! The Leadership Council for Women Religious has taken a strong position of Human Trafficking and is actively asking each hotel/hotel chain in which it holds meetings to promise to do all in its power to prevent their hotels from being used for human trafficking… Education is important, but so is concrete intervention... So WE SFPs ARE DOING WHAT WE CAN TO HELP…

Did you know that:

·       Human trafficking is the fastest growing industry in the world?

·       Every day ten American women are battered to death?

·       Did you know that three out of four American women will be subject to at least one violent crime in their lifetimes?

·       Worldwide, up to 70% of women and girls will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in their lifetime.

·       Approximately 20,000 – 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States every year?

·       Rape and domestic violence are a higher risk for women ages 15 - 44 than cancer, traffic accidents, malaria and war combined.

·       80% of the more than 800,000 people who are trafficked each year are women, 70% for sexual exploitation.    

 And it’s going on right here in the USA?

On any given night, the beds at local Battered Women's Shelter are full. In Greater Cincinnati(OH) alone, about 12,000 calls come into the local hotline and more than 1,000 women and children seek help at the shelters in Hamilton and Clermont counties every week.

 The United States is a major trafficking magnet; approximately 17,000 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year. And Toledo OH is the third largest gateway city for child sex tourism and child sex trafficking in America …where children as young as 6 months old are sold into sex slavery. Toledo is on major truck routes and near the border between the U.S. and Canada – a perfect spot for transferring the captives from one truck to another…

SFPs in the U.S. Area started Tamar’s Place in Cincinnati as a ‘lifeline of hope/help’ for those trapped in prostitution. The ultimate goal of the program is to give these women an opportunity to feel safe enough to ask for referrals to other programs like drug rehabilitation, housing or employment to help improve their lives and leave a life of prostitution. Several of the women guests at Tamar's Placecontibuted a butterfly to this painting started by an artist-volunteer.

This is a local issue – and it is a global issue. According to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, "There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable,  never tolerable."  In the book, Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof, the author notes "It appears that more girls have been killed in the last fifty years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in all the wars of the twentieth century. More girls are killed in this routine 'gendercide' in any one decade than people were slaughtered in all the genocides of the twentieth century."

In Italy, in the city of Padua, the SFP, the Italian Area has established a safe house that offers not only protection and a place to live, but also help with immigration issues (many women who have been trafficked do not have ‘papers’ to establish their right to be there – or to offer an opportunity to return home if they so desire. The sisters also offer education and training as the women seek normalcy and a way to earn a living. Trafficking victims typically are ‘recruited’ through coercion, deception, fraud, and even outright abduction. In Italy, law regarding prostitution is complicated, but trafficking is clearly illegal…so the traffickers must be convicted before the girls can receive documents to stay in Italy. First the police must find proof and then courts must reach a verdict, a process that takes months or even years. Once they have their papers, Project Miriam helps them find apartments and jobs and live a normal life.

These are just a few of the horrifying facts…but there is hope – and there are thousands of people world-wide who are doing many wonderful things. Even one determined individual can make a hug difference. For example:

Ingrid Munro founded and manages Jamii Bora, a microfinance organization based in Nairobi, Kenya that started in 1999 with 50 street beggars. Our members – 150,000 strong – climb out of poverty with an average loan of $95. They now also offer health insurance, and a housing program. Their members pay back loans, borrow again, and help one another. Make no mistake – this is the poor uniting together to help one another. And then there is ...

Greg Mortenson is an American humanitarian, writer, and former mountaineer. Mortenson is the co-founder (with Dr. Jean Hoerni) and director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute, and founder of the educational charity Pennies for Peace. His passion for educating girls has led to the building of 131 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, often against daunting odds and amid considerable danger.

And huge international efforts make a huge difference too! UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon started a campaign, UNiTE to End Violence Against Women, which is A multi-year effort aimed at preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls around the world. He calls on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. It provides a global platform for advocacy and action. Its goals are:

    To urges nations to adopt and enforce national laws to address and punish all forms of violence against women and girls, and to adopts and implement multi-sectorial national action plans.

    To strengthen data collection on the prevalence of violence against women and girls

    To increase public awareness and social mobilization, and

    To address sexual violence  in conflict. 

The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW) was adopted in 1979, but the United States, while it agrees in principle, has not ratified it because the U.S.A. is unwilling to be held to the terms of the treaty. However, the United Nations has established a Commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that promotes gender equality and the advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body.  

Moreover, the United Nations has initiated a multi-year effort aimed at preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls around the world. The UN is calling on governments, civil society, women’s organizations, young people, the private sector, the media and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. For more information, visit: http://webapps01.un.org/vawdatabase/home.action