Salesian Sister Bernadette Sangma speaks of the international network of religious
sisters who are working hard to prevent human trafficking and exploitation in the
lead-up to the Football World Cup in South Africa:
Q: Who are the most
vulnerable people?
“They can be the internally trafficked themselves. So
within South Africa the people from the rural areas, because it is easier to cheat
the rural population, because their lack of access to information or illiteracy. So
we are concerned about the trafficking of some of the rural population, but also about
the trafficking of young people because the South African government decided to close
the schools for the entire period of the World Cup, so the pupils will be free the
whole time, becoming easy targets. But we are also aware that because in the field
of sexual exploitation there is always a demand for exotic sex they can also be trafficking
from other countries and perhaps from countries that are quite far off, Eastern Europe,
Thailand and some Latin American countries”.
Q: How about the football
fans themselves, do you have a message for them?
“Yes. I really seriously
want to tell them that the World Cup should be about the game. It shouldn't really
make them go beyond the enjoyment that they legitimately would want to have with the
game to getting involved in exploitative activities. If they were to collaborate in
this, 95% of prevention of trafficking would take place already, then they would know
that they are not accomplices in the suffering of many people”. Hear more:
Sister
Bernadette, originally from India, has been working in Rome in the field of Women’s
empowerment and is actively involved in counter-trafficking activities. She is also
the coordinator of a counter-trafficking project called “Talitha Kum”, an international
network of religious sisters from 19 different congregations, and backed by the International
Union of Superiors General.