COMBATTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

During 2004, The Salvation Army’s International Conference of Leaders (held in the USA) included in its closing declaration the promise to accept the challenge to ‘combat the evil of human trafficking for sexual exploitation’.

As an international church and charity, The Salvation Army has the potential to make a significant impact on this global issue.

Here are a couple of examples of how the work of The Salvation Army has connected with people who’s lives are affected by the Human Trafficking issue and the commercial sex industry


A phone call to The Salvation Army Help Line ...

Major David Boorman relates a story of someone calling The Salvation Army helpline about a friend that had been trafficked.

‘I’m trying to help a friend,’ explained a middle aged Englishman, who was calling The Salvation Army Helpline.

His friend was an African refugee woman who he had met while abroad. She had been lured to Spain, by the promise of a good job and a new life.

Granted temporary refugee status, she found that her new job was in a seedy lap-dancing club and that pressure was being placed on her to become a prostitute. This he explained was intolerable as she was a practicing Christian.

He decided to go to Spain to rescue her and hatched a wild plan. He would claim that she was his wife and that she had lost her passport and try and get her into the country and claim asylum.

However, while they were escaping her absence was discovered and her mobile phone rang. He said that she turned completely pale as threats were made against the life of her son living in Nigeria. She returned to the club.

‘Can you help in any way?’ asked the man. I gave him the telephone number of our Europe department at IHQ and also an international charity with contacts with overseas social workers.

The Salvation Army in Bangladesh ...

Worldwide, The Salvation Army does a lot of work in reaching out to people engaged in commercial sex work. One such project is based in Old Dhaka, in Bangladesh.

With about 140 million people, Bangladesh is a source country for women and children trafficked for international sex markets. It also supports a substantial domestic sex trafficking industry.

The people that The Salvation Army works with in Old Dhaka have often been sold into prostitution by a family ‘friend’ or ‘relative’; others are victims of rape and are afraid to return to their families; still more have been lured into the sex industry with false promises of work.

The Salvation Army centre provides counselling, skills training in handicraft making, encouragement, care and friendship. The handicrafts they make are sold at The Salvation Army’s 'Sally Ann' shop in Dhaka, as well as its sister shop in Norway.