Human trafficking is an exploitation of vulnerability and migrants are among the most vulnerable populations.
St. Josephine Bakhita (pictured), who was born in 1869 in South Sudan, was kidnapped and sold into slavery at the age of 7 and spent much of her life in captivity. She is the patron saint of victims of slavery and her feast day is Febraury 8th.
Each year, FAN joins partner organizations to bring awareness to the plight of human trafficking. Human trafficking is frequently confused with human smuggling, which involves illegal border crossings. In reality, this heinous crime does not require any movement at all. Women, men, and children can be recruited and trafficked in their own home towns and even their own homes. (Reference: Worldwide Sex Trafficking Statistics & Dataset)
The Justice for Immigrants campaign of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has resources here including toolkits, background information, and more.
We often collaborate with the U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking in promoting their campaigns and educational materials as well as the monthly Stop Trafficking newsletter, listed below.
We continue to pray for an end to this form of modern slavery.
2023 Stop Trafficking Newsletter
The U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking publish the Stop Trafficking Newsletter, dedicated exclusively to fostering an exchange of information among USCSAHT members, organizations, and concerned persons collaborating to eliminate all forms of human trafficking.
The January 2023 issue focuses on human trafficking in the massage parlor industry.
The February 2023 issue looks at how human trafficking is part of all aspects of climate change.
The March 2023 issue ocuses on the nexus between homelessness and human trafficking.
The April 2023 issue summarizes the findings of the 2022 UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons.
The May 2023 issue explores some of the ways financial institutions are helping in indentifying, interfering with, and prosecuting human trafficking.
The June 2023 issue highlights the findings of the National Survivor Survey as published by Polaris in the recently released document In Harm’s Way: How Systems Fail Human Trafficking Survivors.
2022 Issues of Stop Trafficking Newsletter
The U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking publish the Stop Trafficking Newsletter, dedicated exclusively to fostering an exchange of information among USCSAHT members, organizations, and concerned persons collaborating to eliminate all forms of human trafficking.
The focus of the January 2022 issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter focuses on human trafficking that occurs within the family.
The February 2022 issue focuses on the intersection of sports and human trafficking.
The March 2022 issue highlights the increase in sex tourism and what governments and the tourism industry can do about it.
The April 2022 issue looks at human trafficking, child and forced labor behind the food we consume.
The May 2022 issue of looks at the Dirty Dozen List of corporations or organizations facilitating or profiting from sexual abuse and exploitation according to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
The June 2022 issue focuses on the vulnerability to human trafficking for those living in areas of the world involved in armed conflict.
The July 2022 issue highlights the exploitation of children as soldiers in armed conflict.
The August 2022 issue looks again at the human trafficking and child and forced labor behind the food on our table.
The September 2022 issue highlights excerpts from the 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The October 2022 issue explores the victimization of people in the sex trade.
The November 2022 issue focuses on human trafficking and trauma bonding, commonly referred to as “Stockholm Syndrome.”
The December 2022 newsletter explores Human Trafficking as a public health issue.
2021 Issues of Stop Trafficking Newsletter
The focus of the January 2021 Stop Trafficking newsletter is on climate change as a factor of forced migration, which makes people vulnerable to human trafficking.
The focus of the February 2021 newsletter is on human trafficking within the prison system of the United States.
The focus of the March 2021 Stop Trafficking newsletter is on forced marriage and child marriage and the intersection with human trafficking.
The April 2021 issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter highlights the National Center for Sexual Exploitation annual list of entities they deem worthy to name and shame.
The May 2021 issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter highlights the findings of the Global Trafficking in Persons Report.
The June 2021 Stop Trafficking newsletter focuses on the often-unrecognized victims of human trafficking: people with disabilities.
The July 2021 issue focuses on the plight of domestic workers and how they are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
The August 2021 issue highlights topics covered by the U.S. State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for 2021.
2020 Issues of Stop Trafficking Newsletter
The U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking publish the Anti-Trafficking Newsletter, dedicated exclusively to fostering an exchange of information among USCSAHT members, organizations, and concerned persons collaborating to eliminate all forms of human trafficking.
- The focus of the January 2020 issue is the intersection between forced migration and human trafficking.
- The focus of the February 2020 issue is the role of racism in human trafficking.
- The focus of the March 2020 issue is on companies that perpetuate sexual exploitation.
- The focus of the April 2020 issue is on the child welfare system and how vulnerable children in foster care have a greater risk of becoming victims.
- The focus of the May 2020 issue is on the health care community, including behavioral indicators and health effects of trafficking.
- The focus of the June 2020 issue is on Art therapy and how it helps survivors rehabilitate and give voice to the trauma of trafficking.
- The focus of the July 2020 issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter looks at the unconscionable act of trafficking people for their organs.
- The focus of the August 2020 issue looked at the 2020 Trafficking in Persons Report.
- The focus of the September 2020 issue is on Human Trafficking education in our schools, as it is the key to prevention of children becoming victims of trafficking.
- The focus of the October 2020 issue of the Stop Trafficking newsletter is on the vulnerability of indigenous people to human trafficking.
- The November 2020 issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter highlights some of the many predictable and many unforeseen ways the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted human trafficking.
- The December 2020 issue of the Stop Trafficking Newsletter focuses on how we can use our buying power to help end labor trafficking.
Labeling for Lent
Labeling for Lent is a postcard campaign from Coalition of Catholic Organizations Against Human Trafficking (CCOAHT).
CCOAHT is asking seafood producers, distributors, and retailers to make public, through packaged product labeling, their efforts to fight human trafficking in their product supply chains. Through labeling, we as consumers can make educated purchasing choices that help eradicate human trafficking.
In 2020, the postcard will be addressed to Sysco, the global corporation involved in selling, marketing and distributing food and non-food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers around the world.
To order Labeling for Lent Postcards, please complete the Labeling for Lent Post Card Order Form. For more information, we offer two informational one-pagers here:
Human Trafficking in the Maritime Industry