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National Human Trafficking Hotline
Call 1-888-373-7888 (TTY: 711) | Text 233733

 Human Trafficking - Get Educated / Resources

Background

Statistics 
UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Global Report on Trafficking in Persons [1] reports that:
Trafficked Persons -
  • 65% of trafficked persons are female with 46% women and 19% girls
  • 35% of trafficked persons are male with 20% men and 15% boys
  • One in every three individuals is a child

Forms of Exploitation -
  • 50% Trafficked for sexual exploitation
  • 38% Trafficked for forced labor
  • 12% Trafficked for other purposes

 According to the Report, over the past 15 years, the percentage of children “detected” as trafficked persons has tripled and the percentage of boys has increased five times.
 
The Report also noted that its statistics “may be the result of statistical bias. By and large, the exploitation of women tends to be visible, in city centres or along highways. Because it is more frequently reported, sexual exploitation has become the most documented type of trafficking, in aggregate statistics. In comparison, other forms of exploitation are under-reported: forced or bonded labour; domestic servitude and forced marriage; organ removal; and the exploitation of children in begging, the sex trade and warfare.”
 
The magnitude of human trafficking and its ripple effects are unquestioned. The hard statistics can be harder to come by.
 
The International Labor Organization numbers differ somewhat, yet are expansive. The ILO [2] estimates that 40.3 million people are enslaved: 20.1 million in forced labor, 4.8 million in forced sexual exploitation, and 15.4 million in forced marriage.
  • 5.4 out of every 1000 people are victims/survivors of modern slavery
  • Children make up 25% of people who are trafficked
  • Over 70% of those trafficked globally are women and girls
 
Globally, according to the ILO, 16 million people are exploited in the private sector (domestic work, construction, agriculture) and 4 million people are trapped in forced labor imposed by foreign governments.

The forced labor industry sectors [3] most frequently documented are agriculture / horticulture, construction, garments and textiles under sweatshop conditions, catering and restaurants, domestic work, entertainment and the sex industry.  Human trafficking also affects food processing, healthcare and contract cleaning.
 
The U.S. State Department and ILO also report that 77% of trafficked persons are exploited in their countries of residence.
 
The United States 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report [4] states that “[I]n the United States, traffickers prey upon children in the foster care system. Recent reports have consistently indicated that a large number of victims of child sex trafficking were at one time in the foster care system.”

Human Trafficking is Big Business [5]
Human trafficking earns profits of roughly $150 billion a year for traffickers, according to the ILO report from 2014. The following is a breakdown of profits, by sector:
  • $99 billion from commercial sexual exploitation
  • $34 billion in construction, manufacturing, mining and utilities
  • $9 billion in agriculture, including forestry and fishing
  • $8 billion dollars is not spent annually by private households that employ domestic workers under conditions of forced labor
 
While only 19% of victims are trafficked for sex, according to the ILO, sexual exploitation earns 66% of the global profits of human trafficking.

(continued on column 2)
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(continued from column 1)

Trafficking is an Injustice
Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd Position Paper [6] on the Trafficking of Women and Girls states that “Trafficking is an injustice rooted in dynamics of our global world and current global economy. Structures and systems that intensify social inequality, support patriarchal power, prioritize economic profit above the value of the human person, and diminish the value of social relationships render untold women and children vulnerable to being trafficked for labor, human organ harvesting, surrogate pregnancy, and/or sexual exploitation. Trafficking is congruent with all forms of gender discrimination and gender-based violence, including the industries and governments that sustain prostitution and pornography. OLCGS stands with all persons who condemn this phenomenon and work to eradicate it and its systemic roots. …
 
“The phenomenon of trafficking converges with current global flows of migration, patterns of armed conflict and war, climate induced displacement and economic supply chains of consumer goods.  In all our work, we seek to analyze and address root causes, examining and unmasking links between trafficking and policies of economic injustice, violence against women, discrimination of the girl child, militarization, inadequate migration support, and the social acceptance of the prostituti9on of women and girls. We encourage participation … that support an end to trafficking and promote full empowerment of women and girls in all spheres of activity.”

[1] https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/crime.html
[2] https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/forced-labour/lang--en/index.htm
[3] http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/faqs.html
[4] https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-trafficking-in-persons-report/
[5] https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/human-trafficking-numbers
[6] https://www.gsadvocacy.org/uploads/5/5/6/0/55602515/trafficking_paper.pdf

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Advocacy Tools / Resources

Catholic Coalition of Organizations Against Human Trafficking -- Understanding & Resources

CCOAHT 2021 Toolkit

Blue Campaign - Faith-based & Community Toolkit

Blue Campaign

Watch video of Good Shepherd Sisters combating sex trafficking in Thailand.

 Lenten Campaign

Forced Labor in the Fishing Industry
(CCOAHT) is organizing a Lenten Campaign to raise awareness of forced labor in the fishing industry. In 2021, due to the global pandemic, a new humanitarian crisis has emerged that is severely impacting all men and women who work at sea.

CCOAHT - together with  Stella Maris and the  Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America (AOS-USA) - are urging Catholics and all people of good will to pay witness to the life of the seafarer and to leverage their voices as community members and consumers to uplift the safety and well-being of one of the world’s most invisible group of essential workers.

Join CCOAHT, AOS-USA, and Stella Maris this Lent and Spring as together we elevate the visibility of the seafarers’ plight.  

Click here
 to download background about the Campaign and more information.
  • Educational Materials:
    • Human Trafficking in the Maritime Industry
    • From Catch to Plate - How Slave Labor Feeds the Seafood Supply Chain
    • Trafficking in the Maritime World (Caritas Internationalis)  
  • Story of a Survivor:
    • Seafood from Slaves: Former fishing slave, Myint Naing, returns home after being enslaved for 22 years. Video Credit:  Associated Press, Tortured Fish Slave Returns Home After 22 Years (June 30, 2015) 

Organizations

Searching for more information? Visit:
  • Human Trafficking Hotline
  • Alliance to End Human Trafficking (formerly US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking)
  • US Conference of Catholic Bishops Anti-Trafficking Program
  • Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, a non-governmental organization that works to end human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children worldwide
  • CPAT-USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking)
  • Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force
  • Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign - working in collaboration with law enforcement, government, non-governmental and private organizations
  • Department of Health and Human Services Office of Trafficking in Persons
  • Department of Labor - child labor, forced labor and human trafficking
  • State Department - Trafficking in Persons Report
  • United Nations Refugees and Migrants
  • Polaris Project
Check it Out
How Many Slaves Work for You?
Fair Food Program - designed, monitored, and enforced by the very workers whose rights it is intended to protect
Fashion Revolution - We love fashion, but we don’t want our clothes to come at the cost of people or our planet

Human Trafficking Conference Presentations

Presentation from select panelists at NAC's 2019 Human Trafficking Conference
  • Sr. Winifred Doherty, RGS - United Nations Representative for the Congregation (Doherty PowerPoint presentation)
  • Evelyn Chumbow - Speaker with Survivors of Slavery and Labor Trafficking Survivor (Chumbow PowerPoint presentation)
Presentations from select panelists at NAC's 2018 Human Trafficking Conference
  • Sr. Winifred Doherty, RGS - United Nations Representative for the Congregation (Doherty PowerPoint presentation)
  • Angela Aufdemberge - President and CEO of Vista Maria, a Good Shepherd residential treatment facility for youth (Aufdemberge PowerPoint presentation)
  • Janet Basilan - Vice-Chairperson of GABRIELA USA, a Filipina Women's alliance (Basilan PowerPoint presentation)
Presentation from select panelists at NAC's 2021 Human Trafficking Conference
  • PLENARY TALK from Winifred Doherty, RGS (DAY 1)
  • A Portrait of a Labor Trafficking Victim from . Christine Truong My Hanh, RGS (DAY 1)
  • Why are we called to advocacy? From Jennifer Reyes Lay, Executive Director, U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking  (DAY 2)​
  • Harnessing the Cry of Empathy (for Action) from Hilary Chester, PhD,  USCCB Office of Migration and Refugee Services, and Kara Griffin, Volunteer Parish Partner (DAY 2) (PowerPoint version with links and notes available upon request)
  • Commissioning Prayer from Gayle Lwanga Crumbly, RGS (partial credit to USCCB MRS) (DAY 2)

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