Fr. Searson: Human trafficking is shocking and disturbing

As the month of October slowly draws towards the end, the Director of the Apostleship of Prayer in Zambia, Father Charles Searson S.J has described this month’s prayer intention, for Pope Francis, on human trafficking as a disturbing and shocking topic.

The Apostleship of Prayer is a worldwide association of Catholics and other Christians who receive monthly prayer intentions from the Pope and unite with others, in prayer, for those very intentions. For this reason, the Apostleship of Prayer is sometimes known as "the Pope's prayer group."

“This month's prayer intention is on human trafficking -a very disturbing topic. I have no direct experience of this subject except for one friend here in Zambia who shared with me that some years ago someone made a very attractive job offer to his fiancée. She was fascinated by the idea of a job to Cape Town, South Africa. He was deeply suspicious. He made a few inquiries and was told in no uncertain terms to mind his own business. He said, ‘We are talking about my future wife and I have every right to know.’  Suddenly the line was cut and the attractive ‘job offer’ disappeared as quickly as it came,” narrated Fr. Searson.

According to Fr. Searson, human trafficking happens in every country of the world either as a country of origin, of transit or destination. He says it always involves lies and deception, sometimes from a stranger, sometimes from someone known to the victim. Only 1% of cases are reported to the authorities which explains why so little is known about this human tragedy.

Fr. Searson says that, “The best form of prevention is awareness. The principle applies: If the offer seems "too good to be true” you can be sure it is neither good nor true. If in doubt, stay out,” he explains and then quickly adds, “Pope Francis is passionately involved in this issue and is inviting everyone to get involved too.  The Catholic Church, alongside the United Nations’ (UN) agencies and the world’s civil authorities, has a whole network of religious sisters and lay people dealing with human trafficking both with regard to prevention (talks in schools) and care of victims,” the Director of the Apostleship of Prayer, in Zambia explained..

According to the worldwide Apostleship of Prayer, Pope Francis’ October universal prayer intention shocks us with the fact that human trafficking -kidnapping, transporting, selling, and buying men, women, and children, is in fact, nothing less than slavery. Slavery is not some ancient historical practice human beings outgrew; slavery is rampant today.

The Apostleship of Prayer says that according to the Global Slavery Index, over 30 million people around the world are slaves. 78 percent are enslaved for labour and 22 percent for sex. The country with the highest percentage of slaves is Mauritania, Africa, at 4 percent. In India over 14 million people are enslaved. The United States has more than 60,000 people enslaved.

Pope Francis has called human trafficking a “crime against humanity” and “an open wound on the body of contemporary society, a scourge upon the body of Christ.” The Pope made human trafficking the focus of his Message for this year’s World Day of Peace.

(Fr. Paul Samasumo)

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