HAGAR - caring for vulnerable people in human trafficking and modern day slavery...

 

Today, I went to an all day Women's Retreat sponsored by Hagar at Life Church South in Manukau. It was a really well needed peace-filled day that had me thinking about a lot of things.

One of the sad statistics that was shared was the fact that Modern day slavery and Human trafficking are very alive and well and thriving in all countries of the world in varying degrees.

Out of 167 countries in the world, a system was developed that rated countries according to the status of women and the degree to which human trafficking and slavery was prevalent in society.

New Zealand came 14th out of 167 countries with Norway as the 1st and sadly the last two countries were 166 with Afghanistan and 167 faring as the worst for women.

It was explained that 40 million people in the world were in situations of slavery today with 24% being children and 71% being females. The most vulnerable people were known to be those especially who were moving across borders and often from war torn countries and refugees.

The factors which seem to be fuelling these include: consumerism i.e. the fact that there is a demand for it, secondly; the sexualization of people through porn, the sex industry etc. and thirdly; greed for making money. Sadly human trafficking and slavery is the second most illegal money making source after drugs and before selling firearms.

Sadly, international laws are still not being developed fast enough and even New Zealand doesn't even have any laws in place to combat modern slavery. But there is a petition that is currently being circulated digitally to try and address the problem and you can find it to sign and share on https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/take-action-against-modern-slavery/signatures

You might ask what one can do by being in a country that is relatively safe from modern slavery or human trafficking? one answer could be in buying from companies that try to buy ethically sourced products often shown on their products.

Or even sponsoring or donating to organisations such as Hagar, as I have decided to do, or finding out more information from Tear Fund, World Vision or Trade Aid as to how you can help or volunteer for such organisations. There is actually a lot we can do if we step out in faith as you never know where it might take you...