HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Human trafficking is one of the largest criminal industries in the world today, being exceeded only by trafficking in drugs and weapons. The UN estimates that nearly two million women and children are trafficked globally every year, and millions more are trafficked within their home countries.

Factors like poverty, discrimination, ignorance, illiteracy and migration increase a person’s vulnerability to trafficking. Trafficking may involve family members selling a vulnerable member of the family, often because this is demanded in order to settle a debt. Young people may be lured with promises of jobs or an education or may simply be abducted.

Those who fall into the hands of traffickers may be sold and resold in a network of exploitation. Some may be forced into bonded labour working on farms, in factories or in homes. Others may be forced to become child soldiers. Women and girls may be forced into the sex trade. The Indian government estimates that every day about two hundred girls and women are forced into prostitution against their will. This problem is severe in India, but it is not just an Indian problem. No country in South Asia is free from this affliction.

Traffickers use physical and emotional violence to control their victims. Women may be beaten, raped, and told that they are now social outcasts, making them dependent on their abusers. Others may be locked in factories that are also jails. All suffer health risks, whether from sexually transmitted diseases, dangerous working conditions or inadequate food. Deprivation and misery leave them vulnerable to disease. In an attempt to forget their misery and humiliation, they may turn to drugs and alcohol. They find it difficult to trust others and they live in fear.

Those who escape are left with shattered self-esteem and deep emotional scars. They still fear others and fear rejection. They find it very difficult to accept unconditional love, the fatherhood of God, and forgiveness.

The Bible includes instances of slavery and trafficking. Joseph was sold as a slave to Ishmaelites (Gen 37:28). Naaman’s servant girl was trafficked and worked as domestic help (2 Kgs 5:2). Daniel and his friends were also trafficked (Dan 1:3-6). In each case, the context and purpose for the trafficking were different. The prevalence of slavery and such trafficking in biblical times necessitated laws that God’s people should follow. The OT law commanded God’s people to protect the widow and the fatherless – that is, the people who are vulnerable (Exod 22:21-23). When Christ came, he said that he had been sent to free the captives (Luke 4:18). We are called to follow in his steps. We should be salt and light and should work to release the oppressed by delivering them from physical captivity, breaking their shackles of shame, and welcoming them with love. Our calling is to offer them physical, emotional and spiritual freedom. We must reach out to them with the news that God can bless them with a new identity, a future of hope and eternal life.

Mathew K. Daniel