Church Groups Say 'No' to 'Humans for Sale'

Experts say human trafficking a major problem in U.S.

Religious groups are mobilizing to tackle the well-hidden crime of human trafficking, which has spiked in numbers to more than 27 million women and children bought and sold into sexual slavery every year.

The U.S. State Department will release its annual report on human trafficking by the end of June. Experts say the report will show the increasing number of women and children being bought and sold into modern-day slavery and church leaders say their rescue and rehabilitation have become top priorities.

Prostitution and slavery are addressed in the Bible and many people of faith believe that fighting human trafficking is a moral and religious obligation.

Nearly 79 percent of all human trafficking cases are related to sexual exploitation and new estimates of the number of modern-day slaves range from about 10 to 30 million globally, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Common forms of human trafficking include: forced labor, sex trafficking, bonded labor, debt bondage among migrant workers, involuntary domestic servitude, forced child labor, and child soldiery. Related behaviors that are not considered to be human trafficking include: illegal adoptions, the human organ trade, child pornography, and prostitution, according to human rights advocates.

“Like most people I assumed slavery existed only in history books and that we had abolished more than a hundred and fifty years ago,” said Dr. Ana Nogales, a published psychologist.

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