Human trafficking

​HUMAN TRAFFICKING–IT’S A CRIME

Sex trafficking is the use of FORCE, FRAUD OR COERCION to induce a person to perform a COMMERCIAL SEX ACT or inducing a minor to perform such an act.

Labor trafficking is the use of FORCE, FRAUD OR COERCION to subject a person to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, child labor or slavery

Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world. Trafficking does not discriminate by race, gender, ethnicity, religion, socio-economic status, sexual orientation,
​ or age.
​It happens everywhere! 
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What is the Archdiocese doing about Human Trafficking?

Through the Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry, the Archdiocese established a Human Trafficking Task Force, whose activities include:

​
Awareness Presentations
Creating and Procuring Prayerful Resources
Collaborating with Area Agencies
Helping Parishes Establish Anti-trafficking Ministries
​We also created the:

Care and Prayer Program

Church groups partner with The Underground NE in their survivor mentorship program.
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What does the Church teach?

Viewed through the lens of Catholic social teaching, human trafficking is a crime against the most basic aspects of human dignity and human rights. 

"I urgently appeal to all men and women of good will, and all those near or far, including the highest levels of civil institutions, who witness the scourge of contemporary slavery, not to become accomplices to this evil, not to turn away from the sufferings of our brothers and sisters, our fellow human beings, who are deprived of their freedom and dignity. Instead, may we have the courage to touch the suffering flesh of Christ, revealed in the faces of those countless persons whom he calls “the least of these my brethren.” (Mt 25:40, 45). 
                                      
Pope Francis, World Day of Peace Message, 2015​
Check out these groups focused on ending human trafficking:

​The Underground New England

U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking 

Polaris

The Underground

ECPAT USA

Love 146

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops