Human Trafficking

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  • 2019 human trafficking report: U.S. has work to do
    by Diana Chandler, posted Wednesday, June 26, 2019 (4 months ago)

    iStock
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. is among 33 top countries fighting human trafficking but falls short in prosecuting traffickers, aiding victims and tackling forced labor in particular, the U.S. State Department said in its latest report.

    Faith communities can help countries address human trafficking, which currently victimizes an estimated 25 million adults and children worldwide in sex trafficking and forced labor, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large John Cotton Richmond said in releasing the 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP). Read More

  • WMU street ministry shines light in prostitution zone
    by Trennis Henderson , posted Wednesday, May 29, 2019 (5 months ago)

    Photo by Pam Henderson/WMU
    RICHMOND, Va.(BP) -- A small group of volunteers gathers two nights a month in south Richmond, Va., to walk a mile-long strip of the city and minister to prostitutes and others they cross paths with along the way.

    The volunteers meet in the parking lot of a nearby fast-food restaurant about 11 p.m. for a brief time of orientation and prayer before heading out two by two along a street dotted with aging motels, used car lots and the occasional pawnshop or tattoo parlor. Some might say this isn't your typical Woman's Missionary Union (WMU) ministry project. Read More

  • FBI honors Baptist ministry for human-trafficking work
    by Tobin Perry, posted Tuesday, May 21, 2019 (5 months ago)

    FBI photo.
    WASHINGTON, D.C. (BP) -- Earlier this month FBI Director Christopher Wray presented the Baptist Friendship House of New Orleans with its distinguished 2018 Director's Community Leadership Award for its work in fighting human trafficking.

    Kay Bennett, a Send Relief missionary with the North American Mission Board, accepted the award on behalf of the Baptist Friendship House at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Baptist Friendship House is a ministry of NAMB and New Orleans Baptist Association. Read More

  • Anti-child trafficking ministry goes national, global
    by David Roach, posted Tuesday, March 12, 2019 (8 months ago)

    Submitted photo
    LAKELAND, Fla. (BP) -- From the National Palace in Guatemala to the Oval Office in Washington, leaders of the Florida Baptist Children's Homes have found themselves advocating for child sex trafficking victims on international and national platforms.

    This year, they have led a conference for Guatemalan government officials on child trafficking and were present at the White House in January when President Trump signed an anti-trafficking bill. Read More

  • Human trafficking -- 'each of us can do something'
    by Grace Thornton, posted Monday, February 18, 2019 (9 months ago)

    B&H Publishing Group photo
    NEW YORK CITY (BP) -- Raleigh Sadler knows what it's like to feel helpless in the face of human trafficking. He's almost certain he's witnessed someone being trafficked right in front of him.

    Ironically when it happened, Sadler was on the way home from an event where he spoke about how to fight human trafficking. Read More

  • Human trafficking during Super Bowl week prompts ministry
    by Tim Ellsworth, posted Tuesday, January 29, 2019 (9 months ago)

    Submitted photo
    ATLANTA (BP) -- When Heather Havard was a freshman in high school, she heard the song "27 Million" by worship leader Matt Redman about the number of slaves in the world.

    She was moved enough to begin doing her own research and taking measures to fight human trafficking. This weekend, she's leading a group of 10 people, most of them students at Sam Houston State University, where Havard is now a sophomore, to Atlanta to raise awareness during the Super Bowl about the problem of human trafficking.

    "The Super Bowl is the number one event every year where human trafficking rates skyrocket," said Havard, a member of University Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Texas. "Traffickers will come from all over the country, and some from places all over the world. They'll rent out whole hotel floors. Sometimes you'll find that entire hotels are rented out by traffickers." Read More

  • Trafficking bill applauded, bolstered with ministry
    by David Roach, posted Monday, January 14, 2019 (10 months ago)

    Clerk.house.gov photo.
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- Amid the gridlock of a partial federal government shutdown, President Trump and lawmakers came together across party lines to enact anti-human trafficking legislation named for the 19th-century abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

    Travis Wussow, vice president for public policy with Southern Baptists' Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, voiced gratitude "for the leadership of Congressman Chris Smith [a New Jersey Republican who sponsored the legislation] and all those who worked to see the Fredrick Douglass bill become law."

    "This Act brings new resources to the tireless fight of seeking freedom for captives and ... Read More

  • Granola bars sensitize students to NYC's vulnerable
    by Grace Thornton, posted Thursday, August 16, 2018 (one year ago)

    Submitted photo
    NEW YORK (BP) -- It all started with two granola bars and a challenge, and before the day was over, a group of high school students saw the world's human trafficking problem from a whole different perspective.

    The concept was simple.

    The students, from metro Dallas, were spending the day in New York City learning how to combat human trafficking when Raleigh Sadler issued a challenge.

    "Go buy a box of granola bars, and when you approach someone who seems isolated, have two of them in your hand," said Sadler, executive director of the Let My People Go ministry. "Then offer them one of the bars and eat yours too -- share that simple meal with them." Read More

  • A tour unholy in name, unpleasant by design
    by Scott Barkley/The Christian Index, posted Wednesday, June 06, 2018 (one year ago)

    Photo by Scott Barkley
    ATLANTA (BP) -- It's Thursday evening, and a group boards a bus at the Georgia Baptist Convention building for several strip clubs, a few hotels and an apartment complex where human trafficking has been reported.

    The "Unholy Tour," jointly sponsored by Georgia Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols and the Georgia Baptist public affairs office, stretched nearly three hours instead of the scheduled two. Still, it didn't feel like enough time for various speakers tell their stories from the front of the unmarked bus. Read More

  • Feds shut down Backpage.com over sex ads
    by Tom Strode, posted Monday, April 09, 2018 (one year ago)

    Screen capture from backpage.com.
    WASHINGTON (BP) -- Opponents of human trafficking have applauded the federal government's shutdown of Backpage.com, reportedly the leading online facilitator of the sex trade.

    An April 6 message at Backpage.com announced the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other government entities had seized the website and its affiliates "as part of an enforcement action." The FBI and the Justice Department have made no further announcements about the investigation. Read More