Did You Know... .... that from April 2006 through October 10, 2011, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) had an exclusive contract with the government to provide health, psychological and related services to survivors of human trafficking?
During this period USCCB provided services to 2,223 victims, along with 512 family members. In doing so, the Conference helped to provide former slaves with the opportunity for a new life and new opportunities. Of victims served, a full 73% of clients served were victims of slave labor. This flies in the face of widely accepted common wisdom, which tends to identity human trafficking with forced prostitution or other forms of sexual slavery. Further, 44% of clients were male, with the remaining 56% female.
The work that the staff USCCB anti-trafficking office has done in recent years deserves recognition and we should thank them for their efforts to help some of the most vulnerable populations on this planet.
For more information, click here.
Picture: This desperate mother traveled from her village in Nepal to Mumbai, India, hoping to find and rescue her teenage daughter who was trafficked into an Indian brothel. Nepalese girls are prized for their fair skin and are lured with promises of a "good" job and the chance to improve their lives. "I will stay in Mumbai," said the mother, "Until I find my daughter or die. I am not leaving here without her." (Credit: “Kay Chernush for the U.S. State Department.”)
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