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World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
July 30, 2018
Prayer for World Day Against Trafficking in Persons
Trafficking of Women and Girls
The updated Good Shepherd Position Paper on Trafficking issued in June 2018 (click here) 1 is the focus of this reflection. You are invited to take a copy of this Paper and use it for reflection, personally or with a group.
The Position Paper clearly articulates the issue of Trafficking in our world today.
The impact and effect of the trafficking of women and girls is deeply distressing and rips apart their families and communities. As noted in the Position Paper, trafficking is a growing global criminal industry that defies human rights and affronts human dignity. Trafficking affects men, women and children in different ways, but for us, Good Shepherd people, it is the women and children – especially girls, who are our focus.
The Position Paper notes that “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.”
We can find ourselves drawn into the issue in a multitude of ways without even realising it – by what we buy, wear, use…
Suggestion: Gather as a group, take the revised Position Paper as the reading for a time of reflection and sharing.
The following are sections from the revised Position Paper that may be helpful for reflection:
“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.”
“Our first response is to express solidarity with those who have suffered victimization through this repulsive crime….
Second as we listen to the experiences of persons who have been trafficked, we develop holistic programs to respond to needs….
Third, we continually increase our capacity to understand the persistent and complex dynamics of trafficking.”
Ponder the questions:
What do I know of the issue in my city or country?
How may I/we be complicit in trafficking? Do I/we know where the clothes and other consumer goods I/we buy come from, how they are made, who makes them?
What might I/we do to better understand and effectively respond?
Share your responses (if in a group)
Take a few minutes of quiet reflection on what you have heard from each other.
There may be an action you can take regarding a situation you know of in your country. Discuss what may be possible.
“Love and Justice bind us together”. St Mary Euphrasia
Prayer to Conclude:
God of Compassion and Hope: We pray for all who are trafficked.
We pray for those living in situations where their innate dignity is not respected. We pray for women and girls whose human rights are disregarded.
We pray for those who are in bonded labour or sold into domestic or sexual servitude. Fill each of them with courage and strength to each out for help.
Fill us with your compassionate love to respond fully.
Give us strength, give us courage and energy to work for change and to confront the great injustices created by trafficking.
God of Life – Give us hope!
“Have a great and merciful heart,
the healing touch that raises and restores to wholeness and gives courage to start again.”
St. Mary Euphrasia
Prayer Prepared by Caroline Price, Province of Australia/Aotearoa-New Zealand