Last evening Maggie and I attended the talk at the Glen Ellyn Public Library on human trafficking in Illinois. The woman who gave the talk is from the Department of Human Services. The DHS has formed the Rescue and Restore Campaign to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of human trafficking and to rescue victims of the trade. Here are a few of the things we learned last night:

• After drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with arms dealing at the worlds second-largest criminal industry.

• Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry.
• Somewhere between 14,000 and 17,000 people are trafficked through the United States every year. Since 2000 only 1,000 of those have been identified and rescued.
• From the DHS website, Many victims of trafficking are exploited for purposes of commercial sex, including prostitution, stripping, pornography and live-sex shows. However, trafficking also takes place as labor exploitation, such as domestic servitude, sweatshop factories, or migrant agricultural work. Traffickers use force, fraud and coercion to compel women, men and children to engage in these activities.
• We learned that Illinois is of particular interest to those who traffic in people because of the combination of a large urban center, agriculture, an international airport, and a highway system that allows easy movement across the country.

The obvious question for me after attending an event like this is, “What can we do?” Given the complexity of this issue it’s a hard question to answer, but here are a few thoughts:

• There is an local Meetup group that is just beginning to ask how they can be involved. This is the group that organized last night’s event.
• We were reminded repeatedly last night how few people even know that human trafficking is a serious issue. Raising awareness, according to the presenter, is the most important thing that we can do. I took some Rescue and Restore posters (see examples below) to hang around the community. I’d be happy to get more of these posters for anyone willing to distribute them.
• We were shown a very well produced DVD about human trafficking last night. I have a copy of it and would be happy to loan it out to anyone who is interested.
• Pray. Ask what God would have us do as individuals do. Ask what God would have our community do.

Posters from the Rescue and Restore Campaign

We pray for those who cannont protect themselves, for all whose freedom and dignity had been stolen. We pray for justice. We pray for peace. We pray the Church will awaken to the cries of the victims of human trafficking. We pray to the God of the oppressed.

Update: (Pastor) Glenn left a comment with a link to this article in the Tribune about the slave trade in China.