Human Trafficking

Hello friends,

In my last update I mentioned that we would be going to Kampala for a training on Fighting Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery. Lorella Rouster, ECM’s International Director, had attended a training a few months ago with an organization called Not For Sale, so she wanted to pass along what she learned to her staff and volunteers. I am familiar with the issue of human trafficking, but I learned a lot from the training because of the interaction with the Ugandan staff and hearing their stories and examples that are specific to Uganda. I wanted to pass along what I learned.

It is hard to imagine that slavery didn’t end with the Civil War, and that people actually buy and sell other human beings still today…but it’s true. Every country in the world is affected in some way by “modern day slavery.” The United States is hugely affected, but the majority of us are hugely unaware. More people are currently in slavery than at any other time in history.

Trafficking is defined as “The practice of people being tricked, lured, coerced, or otherwise removed from their home or country and then compelled to work with little or no payment, on terms that are highly exploitative” (Wikipedia).

Common types of trafficking:

-sex slavery

-forced commercial prostitution (an example of this: did you know that

in America’s “strip joints,” approx.60% of the women found there are trafficked?)

-domestic servitude

-forced manual labor, especially of children

-cocoa farms, other farms

-stone quarries

-selling at markets

-begging on behalf of someone else

-drug pushers

-service industry

-sweat shops, factories

(this is not to say that everyone, or even every child doing the above types of work is necessarily trafficked.)

-forced child soldiery

-fighters

-”wives” or concubines of soldiers (sex slaves)

-abduction & execution of children

-child sacrifice, killing to obtain body parts for rituals (African traditional religion)

Did you know that every year, approximately 200,000 children are trafficked within the United States of America in the commercial sex industry? Did you know that globally, 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked each year in various types of slavery?

Trafficking in Uganda:

The first thing that comes to mind regarding human trafficking in Uganda is the issue of child soldiers. The LRA has abducted a huge number of children over the last two decades, forcing them to become combatants and sex slaves. Another one that I have mentioned is the witch doctors who abduct children to kill them and use their organs for witchcraft. However, there are many other forms of trafficking that are present here. One involves the region of Karamoja, in the northeastern corner of Uganda. The Karamajong are a nomadic cattle herding tribe (similar to the Masai). Apparently there is a fairly common practice where someone either tricks or abducts Karamajong children, and then takes them to the cattle markets on the Uganda/Kenya border, where they are sold every Friday. There are booths at the “cattle market” reserved specifically for selling children. The child is then bought and taken to Kampala or other large cities, where he is forced to beg on the streets. At the end of the day, he turns over all the money he received to the traffickers, and is locked up until the next day when he gets to do it all over again. This is not a practice that is confined to the Karamajong and Kampala, but rather is seen all over the world.

I just wanted to pass along some of the things I learned. Thank you for taking the time to read. If we are truly followers of Christ, who was about setting the captives free, I do not think we can ignore this. Each one of those children is extremely valuable to Him. It breaks His heart to see them exploited, abused, and ignored. Modern day slavery desperately needs modern day abolitionists. There are many ways that we can be involved in the struggle against human trafficking. Here are some websites that can be helpful in this area:

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

http://www.humantrafficking.org/

http://www.polarisproject.org/

Thanks for reading.

Love,

Sarah