Nuns launch new campaign against human trafficking during World Cup
(May 8, 2010) An international network of women's religious orders has launched a
worldwide awareness campaign aimed at preventing human trafficking during the June
11-July 11 World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa. The campaign titled, "2010
Should Be About the Game," has been targeting fans, religious leaders, potential victims
of trafficking and the general public -- warning them about the risks and urging them
to spread the word. Using the 2010 World Cup to exploit vulnerable women, children
and men for slave labour, the sex industry or the drug trade is "an outright perversion
of the spirit and ethical dimension of sport as well as of the idea and dignity of
the human person," said Salesian Sister Bernadette Sangma who coordinates the anti-trafficking
project of the International Union of Superiors Generals. A similar anti-trafficking
campaign coordinated by the superiors general and the International Organization for
Migration was highly successful during the 2006 World Cup in Germany, said Stefano
Volpicelli, a migration office official who has been working with the sisters. The
women's religious orders' international network called "Talita Kum," Aramaic for "Get
Up," is carrying out an awareness campaign in South Africa, neighbouring countries,
countries where large numbers of fans are expected to come from, and countries such
as Thailand, where victims of trafficking are likely to be targeted, said Sister Sangma.
The network is made up of 252 women's religious orders and it works with the international
migration group; the network receives funding from the U.S. State Department.