Christian Reflection and Prayer

An Appeal to End the Horror of Human Tafficking
Kathi Macias


The term "human trafficking" or "trafficking in persons"
(TIP) often draws raised eyebrows and skeptical
expressions—until statistics are laid out to show
that approximately 27 million people are enslaved
today, whether for the purposes of slave labor,
prostitution, or involuntary organ "donations."

The Salvation Army has made the rescue of those
enslaved around the world their number-one goal
at this time, holding seminars and conferences
to educate people and to garner support from
various individuals and organizations.

The United Nations describes TIP in this way:

"The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring
or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use
of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of
fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving
of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a
person having control over another person, for the
purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include,
at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution
of others or other forms of sexual exploitation,
forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar
to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

In a nutshell, human trafficking is modern-day
slavery, and it is the fastest growing criminal industry
in the world. It is currently tied with the illegal arms
industry for the second largest criminal industry in
existence, with the drug industry being the only
one to edge it out.

Oh, I know. Most people naively believe that human
trafficking happens only in faraway countries—
Thailand or Cambodia, perhaps. True, it does occur
there at a tragic rate. But it also takes place right here
in the United States daily, to such an extent that some
states are instituting task forces to try and stop it.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot promises that
their new task force "will take an aggressive stand
against human traffickers, who have turned Texas
into a hub for international and domestic forced labor
and prostitution rings" (www.humantrafficking.org,
"News and Updates," April 5, 2010).

Another myth about human trafficking is that it only
involves adults. Millions of children around the world
are crying out in pain and terror over the heartbreaking
error of that statement. According to Wikepedia,
trafficking in children may come about as an "exploitation
of the parents' extreme poverty. Parents may sell
children to traffickers in order to pay off debts or gain
income, or they may be deceived concerning the
prospects of training and a better life for their children.
They may sell their children for labor, sex trafficking,
or illegal adoptions."

Can there be anything that grieves the Father's heart
more than the forced enslaving of people made in His
own image—by others bearing that same divine imprint?
I believe each time anyone becomes aware of such evil
and cries out against it, that cry is spurred by the Father's
own pain. If ever the Church needed to be involved in
helping to right a human wrong, it's now. Human
trafficking must stop! And each of us who names the
Name of Christ must ask the Father what He wants
us to do to help make that happen.

In my case, that includes writing about it—every chance
I get, including blogs, letters, articles, and a new
fiction-based-on-real-life series that I'm just now starting.
Will you pray for me as I research and write it? And
will you also pray and ask God what you can do to
answer His heart cry of "Let My people go"? Millions
of enslaved human beings around the world are depending
on you to respond.

Kathi Macias (www.kathimacias.com;
kathieasywritermacias.blogspot.com), a radio show host
and the award-winning author of more than thirty books,
has just begun writing a three-book fiction series on the
topic of human trafficking. The first book, Deliver Me from
Evil, will release from New Hope Publishing in Fall 2011.

Original publication date: June 17, 2010