Women religious step up their fight against human trafficking

Maryknoll Sister Abby Avelino will never forget the day in 2017 when 15 women from her native Philippines arrived in Tokyo where she’s been ministering for years. They were all between the ages of 25-30.

"I met them little by little, because they came to Mass. And that's how I got to know them," recalls the 56-year-old Catholic religious.

“They were all offered the opportunity to come to Japan to study Japanese," says Sister Abby.

"All of them had paid a lot of money, but when they arrived in Tokyo, they found out that they would not be students, but would be forced to work in restaurants without being paid,” she continues. 

“It took us two years, but the sisters and I helped them get their money back. Some returned to the Philippines, others stayed in Japan," she notes. 

Sister Abby knows about dozens of other journeys like these. 

Since 2016, she has been part of “Talitha Kum”, a global network of several thousand Catholic women religious from more than 800 congregations who fight human trafficking.  

The leaders of the group, whose Hebrew name means “Stand Up!”, met in Rome all last week.

Sister Abby is Talitha Kum’s coordinator for Asia. 

"A drastic increase in trafficking" 

"By definition, nuns are very involved with women and children, who are the most vulnerable population today, and therefore potentially victims of trafficking," explains Comboni Sister Gabriella Bottani. 

The 57-year-old Italian is the international coordinator of Talitha Kum, which was launched by superiors from congregations around the world after a general assembly of the powerful International Union of Women Superiors General (UISG) in 2001.

The network was finally created in 2009.

Today, there are multiple facets of human trafficking that the sisters are fighting, ranging from prostitution and undeclared work to forced marriages and slavery. 

"There is a drastic increase in trafficking," says Sister Gabriella.

"Internal displacements and waves of refugees linked to the various ongoing conflicts only accelerate this phenomenon," she points out.

In view of this, the aid offered varies according to the situation and the country: legal aid, welcoming, health care, education... 

Sister Maria Luisa Puglisi, a member of the Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament, is the network’s European coordinator.

Until recently, she lived in a community in Spain where women victims were welcomed.

Among them were South American women who came to Europe to escape the drug cartels, but fell into a prostitution network. There were also very young Moroccan women who left their country to find freedom on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.

Sister Colleen Jackson, a 70-year-old member of the Sisters of Charity of Australia, is Talitha Kum’s coordinator for Oceania. 

She recounts the dramatic situation of exploited migrants or forced laborers in that part of the world, such as the 22 men who arrived in Australia from the neighboring islands of Vanuatu, but who were never paid by their employer.

"We eventually got justice through the courts, but it took us over five years," she says.

"The pandemic accelerated trafficking"

Sister Colleen, a former psychotherapist, coordinates the work of 150 volunteers across the six anti-trafficking offices in Australia. Most of these volunteers are also religious sisters. 

In all, the network estimates that it will have helped 18,000 people in the region by 2021. And that number is growing.

"It's obvious that the pandemic has accelerated trafficking and made a number of people much more vulnerable," Sister Colleen says.

Meanwhile, in Japan last year Sister Abby set up "young ambassadors" for the fight against trafficking.

It’s a way to get the younger generation in the work of Talitha Kum, which will soon be expanding its efforts also in Latin America.