Representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the California Catholic Conference, sisters of different religious orders and Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala met Oct. 14 to discuss the launch of a new campaign to raise awareness on human trafficking, a growing worldwide crime.

During the Oct. 14 meeting at Loyola Marymount University, the group agreed to network with grassroots organizations and to develop workshops and educational materials to be distributed statewide in parishes, schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions. Involvement of large businesses as well as Hollywood celebrities for promotion and fund raising was also contemplated.

The campaign will also include radio and television public service announcements in English, Spanish, Korean and Portuguese, explaining what is human trafficking and pointing to the organizations that offer help to the victims, said Ginger Silvera, a CCC lobbyist.

"Human trafficking is the second most committed crime worldwide and most people don't know anything about it," Silvera told The Tidings.

Silvera said that during these times of economic uncertainty and high unemployment, many people become more vulnerable and are easy prey for those involved in the trafficking of human beings.

Human trafficking is defined by the United Nations as the process by which a person is recruited to be controlled and held captive for the purpose of a modern-day form of slavery as victims are subjected to sexual exploitation or forced labor, including making clothing, growing food for export, assembling toys for children, cleaning homes and providing childcare to families of their slaveholders.

Other forms of trafficking in persons are child soldiers and debt bondage among migrant laborers.

"A shrinking global demand of labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take any risks for economic opportunities are a great recipe for human trafficking," according to the U.S. State Department document, "Trafficking in persons: Coercion in time of economic crisis."

U.N. International Labor Organization estimates cited in the report show that 12.3 million adults and children are forced into labor and sexual servitude, and 1.39 million are victims of sex trafficking, both in the U.S. and worldwide.

The most vulnerable are women and girls, comprising 56 percent of forced labor victims. Boys are also tricked or forced into commercial sexual exploitation, including prostitution and child pornography.

Interfaith effort
The California religious leaders and organizations also formed a state-wide interfaith policy working group with representatives of interested providers and advocates.

Since February 2009, the CCC has been promoting the approval of two bills (AB 988 and AB 1002) that guarantee protection to victims of human trafficking.

AB 988, vetoed Oct. 11 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, would have required the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to create and make available to all law enforcement agencies training on the U-Visa, a document designed by the Federal government to allow victims of trafficking to stay up to four years in the U.S. During this time they can work legally in the country, apply for permanent residency and receive human services.

The training would include courses of instruction for law enforcement officers in the handling of human trafficking complaints and in the development of guidelines for law enforcement response to human trafficking.

Additionally, AB 988 required the commission to create and make available training content on the U-Visa, including an explanation available to non-citizen crime victims who have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse from criminal activity, provide information regarding criminal activity, and assist government officials in the investigation or prosecution of that criminal activity, if it violated U.S. law or occurred in the U.S., including military installations and the territories and possessions of the U.S.

The bill also required the Department of Justice to provide to victims of human trafficking, in a timely manner and in their language of origin, proper and detailed information regarding the U-Visas, including contact information for obtaining them.

AB 1002 establishes for two years the creation of a Human Trafficking Fund with the proceeds of the forfeiture of property in connection with human trafficking offenses.

The fund will be used for training of law enforcement and prosecutorial personnel to help combat human trafficking and to provide services to the victims, including housing and medical care, legal assistance, job training, case management, mental health services, and education and life skills training, and travel expenses.

Although 26 countries have enacted new anti-trafficking legislation, there remains a disparity between the large global problem and low numbers of prosecutions and convictions --- less than 10 percent of all convictions, reports the U.S. Department of State.

Parishes and schools will hold workshops and talks about human trafficking during the Awareness Day, Jan. 11, 2010. The Southern California Partners for Global Justice will sponsor a symposium on human trafficking Feb. 27, 2010 at Mount St. Mary's Doheny Campus with keynote speaker E. Benjamin Skinner, reporter on international affairs and author of "A Crime So Monstrous: Face-To-Face with Modern Slavery." For more information on human trafficking go to www.castla.org, www.stopenslavement, or the Catholic Legislative Network, www.cacatholic.org.