Rescuing orphans or human trafficking?
Episcopal News Service. February 4, 2010 [020410-04]
Ana White, Immigration and Refugee Policy Analyst
Ten Baptist missionaries remained in custody in Haiti Feb. 4 charged with abduction and criminal association after they were arrested last week when they attempted to cross the border into the Dominican Republic with 33 undocumented "orphans."
The American missionaries, mostly from Idaho, claimed they didn't know they needed paperwork and passports to transport the children across an international border, and that they were acting out their faith. Their ignorance is unfortunate, but presents an opportunity to educate people about human trafficking.
Natural disasters like the magnitude-7 earthquake that devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation, leaving an estimated 200,000 people dead and the survivors without adequate shelter, food and water, create an ideal situation for human traffickers to prey on vulnerable people – children and their parents. (It must be noted that the term "orphan" in the developing world doesn't necessarily imply that a child doesn't have at least one parent, as has been evidenced in this case.)
The Episcopal Church is working to bring attention to the domestic and international problem of human trafficking in women, girls and boys; and supports non-violent efforts to stop this abuse, to protect the victims and to prosecute the perpetrators of this injustice.
The church has also condemned sex trafficking as an affront to human dignity and human rights. The 76th General Convention in July 2009 adopted a resolution that calls for the protection of all victims of human trafficking; supports legislation and action oriented to the recovery and reintegration into society of victims of human trafficking; and urges congregations and dioceses to observe Human Trafficking Awareness Day (January 11) in their liturgical, congregational and diocesan lives.
Between 600,000 and 800,000 people – mostly women and children – are trafficked across international borders annually. Human trafficking is pervasive and misunderstood; going beyond the sex trade and prostitution. Victims are forced, defrauded or coerced into labor, servitude and prostitution, often on the promise of a better life for themselves or their children.
In conflict zones, children are often abducted and made into soldiers. And in poor countries worldwide, children are sold and/or abducted and sold to orphanages and adopted internationally. The Haitian government halted international adoptions in the aftermath of the earthquake; the government and international aid agencies have been working to protect Haitian children from traffickers.
Human trafficking happens, often undetected and unnoticed, in every country in the world. It is a global health risk, it deprives people of their human rights and freedoms, and it fuels the growth of organized crime. It also has a devastating impact on individual victims, who often suffer physical and emotional abuse, rape, threats against self and family, loss of identity and even death.
The United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons provides a legal definition of human trafficking and policy guidelines aimed at prevention and eradication. More importantly, the protocol says that the victims’ consent is irrelevant and that that in the case of children the means in which they were taken (coercion, abduction, surrender) is also irrelevant.
Even if the Baptist missionaries acted as they claim "with the best of the intentions"; they didn't follow international protocol. Understanding and following legal avenues and the guidelines of governments and international agencies, even in the wake of disaster, is essential.
One of the most important things we can do to combat human trafficking is to educate ourselves and create awareness in society. Educate children, talk about it with friends and family, discuss it at church, and demand that our elected officials pay attention to it and that law enforcement agencies combat it and arrest and prosecute people involved in enabling this horrific crime.