“Human Trafficking is a crime against humanity … [that] involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them.” — UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons (2000).

No country is free from the affects of human trafficking.  This is a crime that devastates its victims, often women and children — taking away their dignity and security, and tears at the fabric of our society. 

In 2001, the UISG (Union of International Superiors General), an international forum of Catholic women religious leaders, formally declared a commitment to address the abuse and exploitation of women and children insistently and at every level, “with particular attention to the trafficking of women which has become a lucrative multi-national business.”

Our 2009 Chapter Call for Systemic Change impels us to work collaboratively to forge just political, economic and social structures in solidarity with impoverished and excluded persons.  In response, we commit ourselves to work for an end to human trafficking by increasing awareness of this issue, networking with other congregations and NGOs, and advocating fair trade as a means of reducing the economic pressures which exacerbate this issue.