For the past five years, I have participated in the annual meetings of the United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women. I am inspired by the women who come forward to share their stories, but I wonder: Are we going forward in this struggle?
Focus on Human Trafficking - Human trafficking has been on the rise in Brazil. One goal is to keep people who fit the main demographics of trafficking victims — children and women ages 8-29 — from falling into networks of sexual exploitation through prevention in schools.
Focus on Human Trafficking - Sisters from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and other sisters from different congregations in Nigeria are fighting human trafficking through advocacy and creating awareness to dissuade young girls and women from taking a dangerous route across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, where they can be trafficked into prostitution or slavery.
Online child sexual abuse is a booming international business and religious congregations holding stocks in major telecom firms are stepping up their advocacy to thwart it.
A partnership of resources enabled photographer Lisa Kristine to photograph sisters who work against against sexual and labor exploitation, and who do prevention work with vulnerable migrants in countries around the world. Talitha Kum and the Galileo Foundation aim to raise awareness about trafficking and boost Talitha Kum's worldwide anti-trafficking network.
Recalling Jesus' death on the cross, Pope Francis led thousands on Good Friday in reflecting on the crosses of loneliness, fear and betrayal that crucify countless men, women and children in the world. In the annual Way of the Cross in Rome's Colosseum April 19, the meditation for each station reflected the suffering and pain of people exploited and marginalized.
Countless women and girls are being "crucified" by human traffickers, who trick them into slave labor or prostitution, and by those who seek out their services and exploit them, said the missionary nun who wrote the meditations for Pope Francis' Way of the Cross service.
Pope Francis has asked an Italian nun, who has been on the frontlines in the fight against human trafficking, to write this year's Way of the Cross meditations.
Human trafficking has been worsened by Zimbabwe's dire economic situation. Longtime Zimbabwe resident Sr. Janice McLaughlin works with fellow Maryknollers on the issue, through awareness and education, research and advocacy, and trauma counseling.
For over 10 years, Felician Sisters have been present to the undocumented and homeless in Pomona, California. But recently we realized that those we met on the streets were the "success" story — migrants who had survived, versus the hundreds who die in our deserts every year.
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