Human Trafficking 101

I attended a class today on Human Trafficking. It was sponsored by an organization called ReWA – The Refugee Women’s Alliance. Other collaborative partners were represented by the Seattle Police Department, the Justice Department, and numerous NGOs. Together they are working to aid the many, many victims in this horrific reality.

I appreciated the learning, the statistics, the passion, and the expertise. And still, the whole thing left me feeling incredibly hopeless. The prolifieration of humans is so great and the greed that motivates those who do the trafficking is even greater. From whence will our help come?

In the midst I was left with another question: at what point do we address what it means to live in a world that purchases the services of these trafficked women and children? (There are men that are trafficked, but they are a very small minority.) How do we speak into the reality of our culture(s) about the objectification of persons, about the selling of people for profit, and about the buying of people for pleasure or labor? Though that feels hopeless, as well, it also feels like the point at which I want to dive into this pool of tragedy and darkness.

We must unite against the all-too-familiar reality of silenced women and children in the face of men’s power and lust. Human Trafficking may be the worst manifestation of this reality and it exists all around us all the time in a myriad of lesser manifestations. We must be people who refuse to look the other way at such injustices – large and small.

My relatively comfortable life was disrupted today. But not nearly to the degree of an estimated 100,000 each year who are sold into the sex or labor trades. Indeed, the victims deeply need our compassion, care, and commitment. And our culture does as well. For every victim there are many, many perpetrators. How will we speak into this reality today with as much passion as we do The Divinci Code? Surely we can do better. Surely we can do more. Surely we can stop looking the other way. And above all, we cannot lose hope.

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