Human trafficking is a crime that involves coercing a person to provide labor or services, or to engage in sex acts. It is the recruitment of people through force, fraud, and deception, with the aim of exploiting them for a profit of one kind or another and occurs in all the regions of the world. Men, women, and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime.The traffickers use fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick and coerce their victims.
In the Catholic Peace Weekly a religious sister in her column: the Pastoral Work Place, gives the readers an example of what is meant by the crime of trafficking. She is a member of an international network of religious women who advocate for anti-trafficking in all its different forms [Talitha Kum].
People often ask her if there is human trafficking in Korea. The flip side of this question is to think of human trafficking as nothing more than the forcible dragging and selling of people by some evil persons. Also, one sees human trafficking as an event that happens to special people who have nothing to do with me. In fact, human trafficking occurs frequently in Korea which is very close to us.
In 2020, 19-year-old Jeong-eun (pseudonym) gets to know from an acquaintance a 44 years old man who resides in Turkey. Mr. Lee, who lives abroad, and Ms. Eun Jeong, who works in Korea, became close through frequent video calls and casual chats. Mr. Lee looked at the writings of Ms. Jeong-eun, who dreamed of becoming a writer, and listened to her concerns at work. In the meantime, he says that if she comes to Turkey where he lives, he will look at her writings and help her become a writer.
The two met in Doha, Qatar on December 31, 2020, and went straight to Istanbul, Turkey due to Jung Eun's visa issue. When Jeong-eun arrives in Turkey, Lee's crime begins. Jeong-eun was imprisoned, threatened, and suffered physical damage such as bruises and fractures as a result of sexual assault and violence. On March 10, the owner of the accommodation saw Jung-eun's bruised and swollen face through the crack in the door. Lee was arrested and imprisoned by the local police. With the help of the consulate, Jeong-eun returned to Korea.
This case demonstrates that human traffickers set traps for exploitation across countries via internet chat rooms. In the gap where the thirst for communication and meeting has been amplified by the Corona 19 pandemic, human traffickers are reaching out with the sweet touch of temptation. We must keep people safe from the increasingly sophisticated traps of human trafficking. Solidarity to promote preventive education, protection of victims, and criminal prosecution of traffickers is the vision of the Talitha Kum ministry.
Asian Movement of Women Religious against Human Trafficking (AMRAT) Year of foundation: 2009 (Meaning: life giving water in Sanskrit) is a member of TALITHA KUM, The International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons. The birth of AMRAT was in November 2009 in the First workshop held from 18-25 Novemeber 2009 at Raia, Goa, India. The Foundress Sr Jyoti was awakened to the heart rending realities of the modern day slavery – Human Trafficking when she represented the Union of International Superiors General (UISG) in Rome in 2007 and was inspired by "I have come that they may have life; life in its fullness"John 10:10. She then motivated other religious congregations especially of South Asian Countries to join hands to combat this heinous crime - Human Trafficking.
