Human Trafficking meeting in Mill Hill
From
9-11 January 2009 twelve Daughters of Charity from Australia, Great
Britain, Ireland and the 5 Provinces of the USA met in Mill Hill,
London to continue our discussions on human trafficking, update each
other on our activities since our last meeting and plan for future
activities in our various provinces.
After a warm welcome by Sister Maria Raw, Provincial of the British
Province, we received input from the founder of the Medaille Trust,
Sister Ann-Teresa and Elaine Hill, manager of the Trust’s Safe
Houses. They explained how the Trust came into being and what
services the Safe Houses are able to provide for women who have been
trafficked. The information they provided was both inspirational and
practical. They emphasized both their learnings from their
experience and the pitfalls to be avoided in beginning a new project
with the hope of maintaining it into the future.
Ms. Ivonne Van de Kar, co-coordinator of the Dutch Foundation of
Religious against Trafficking in Women spoke to us about the large
group of Religious in the Netherlands who have organized a network
on both the national and international level that makes information
available for awareness raising and educational programs targeted
for various groups such as border patrol officers, policemen,
schools, emergency room staffs, etc. Through this network, help can
be sought for women in various circumstances who need specific
expertise and assistance as they seek to become reintegrated into
society.
A third input was provided by Louise Lawson from the Refugee Legal
Center in London. She provided us with information concerning the
legal services available and explained the difficulties that women
who are trafficked encounter as they try to navigate the legal
system.
All this input enriched our own experiences and provided us much
food for thought and reflection. We concluded our meeting with a
sharing session during which we offered suggestions of possible next
steps in our own provinces and a renewed hope that networking among
the Sisters within provinces as well as internationally will be
strengthen. Attention was given to the need to address root causes
so that preventive measures can be implemented even as we seek to
help those who have become victims of this most despicable form of
slavery.
Because this is a problem that affects every country in the world,
we were encouraged to know that many provinces had Human Trafficking
on the agenda of their Provincial Assemblies and we are hopeful that
it will also be part of the discussions at the General Assembly in
May-June, 2009.