[ ‘SHARE’ Jul – Sep 2017 ] JOIN HANDS JOIN HEARTS
Barla (obscured), 12, was a student in Pastor Thomas’ tutorial class. She missed classes a few times, and Pastor Thomas started searching for her to no avail. He feared for the worst that she might be caught by traffickers, so he filed a case at the police station. The investigators soon found out that Barla’s parents had sold her to a pimp at the price of less than HK$16.
[ ‘SHARE’ Jul – Sep 2017 ] TAKING ACTION
Author: Tsun Wan Yan
It appears that Hong Kong has nothing to do with human trafficking, and our government did not sign the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking In Persons. In fact, Hong Kong is a port and destination of sold human commodities, and it has been placed on the Tier 2 watch list (same ranking as Afghanistan, Cuba, and Tunisia) for two consecutive years in the Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. Department of State. The ranking describes a country that is experiencing a significant increase in human trafficking victims, and that no tangible measures were established by the authorities. The Hong Kong government denies it has a human trafficking problem, but the Erwiana abuse case in 2014 shocked the city and revealed the hidden side of modern slavery in Hong Kong.
Many young women and children are trafficked to work in Thailand’s red-light districts. They could be found in open bars or backstreet brothels.
Thailand has long been a major source, destination and transit country for human trafficking, it is currently placed on the Tier 2 Watch List of the Trafficking in Persons Report [1]. The country is the hub of commercial sex in Southeast Asia, and it has attracted locals, foreigners and expats to spend their money on buying the companion of young women and children, many of whom are victims of sex trafficking.
Continue reading Combating Sex Trafficking at One of the Worst Commercial Sex Hubs
When we talk about human trafficking, we immediately think of poor people from developing countries being deceived and sold to cities or other countries to be slave or sexually exploited. However, human trafficking victims also exist in developed country, like Japan.
Our partner Eden Ministry is committed to help the sexually exploited to restore a dignified life.
“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” Genesis 2:8
God created the world in order, all creatures were made according to their kinds and God saw them as good. The Garden of Eden manifested God’s intention for His creations. “Eden” has the meaning of “delight or pleasure” in Hebrew. Yet, Adam and Eve sinned against God and were driven out of the Garden. Immediately after their fall, they experienced poverty and hardships, and fell into the cycle of sin. The value of people were degraded and some of them have even been put on a price and sold to others…This was not God’s intention.
Continue reading Helping Human Trafficking Victims to Enter the Garden of Eden
The US State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report on 6/27. The report evaluates and grades the efforts of 180 countries in their fight against human trafficking. For the first time, China was graded Tier 3—the lowest level possible, joining Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
