Sisters infiltrate brothel to help prostitutes and victims of trafficking

[NadaTeTurbe]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/religious-sisters-dress-up-as-prostitutes-to-rescue-trafficking-victims-from-brothels_564c9f74e4b045bf3df1e27b 

LONDON, Nov 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An army of religious sisters who rescue victims of human trafficking by posing as prostitutes to infiltrate brothels and buying children being sold into slavery, is expanding to 140 countries, its chairman said on Wednesday.

John Studzinski, an investment banker and philanthropist who chairs Talitha Kum, said the network of 1,100 sisters currently operates in about 80 countries but the demand for efforts to combat trafficking and slavery was rising globally.

The group, set up in 2004, estimates one percent of the world's population is trafficked in some form, which translates into some 73 million people. Of those, 70 percent are women and half are aged 16 or younger.

"I'm not trying to be sensational but I'm trying to underscore the fact this is a world that has lost innocence ... where dark forces are active," said Studzinski, a vice chairman of U.S. investment bank The Blackstone Group.

"These are problems caused by poverty and equality but it goes well beyond that," he told the Trust Women Conference on women's rights and trafficking hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Detailing some cases involving trafficking and slavery, Studzinski said the treatment of some victims was horrific.

He told of one woman enslaved as a prostitute who was locked up for a week without food, forced to eat own her faeces, when she failed to have sex with a target of 12 clients a day.

 

In another extreme case, one woman was forced to have sex with a group of 10 men at the same time.

Studzinski said the religious sisters working to combat trafficking would go to all lengths to rescue women, often dressing up as prostitutes and going out on the street to integrate themselves into brothels.

"These sisters do not trust anyone. They do not trust governments, they do not trust corporations, and they don't trust the local police. In some cases they cannot trust male clergy," he said, adding that the low-key group preferred to focus on their rescue work rather than promotion.

"They work in brothels. No one knows they are there."

The sisters were also proactive on trying to save children being sold into slavery by their parents, setting up a network of homes in Africa as well as in the Philippines, Brazil and India to shelter such children.

He said the religious sisters of Talitha Kum raised money to purchase these children.

"This is a new network of houses for children around the world who would otherwise be sold into slavery. It is shocking but it is real," he said.

Studzinski said the network of religious sisters, that was in the process of expanding, also targeted slavery in the supply chain with sisters shedding their habits and working alongside locals for as little as 2 U.S. cents an hour to uncover abuses.

He said Talitha Kum, which translated from Aramaic means arise child, was now being hired by companies to see what is going on with respect to the supply chain and expanding globally would help address this issue.

"You can't generalize about trafficking and slavery as no two countries are the same," Studzinski said.

It's admirable. Here is Thalita Kum's website : http://www.talithakum.info/ 

 

[katherineH]

This is so intriguing to me. How do they actually go about "infiltrating" the brothels? Do they pose as prostitutes? How do they protect the sisters under cover? so many questions! would love to see this explored further. 

[veritasluxmea]

I've heard some not so good things about this. Without knowing more it seems very heroic, so I hope it isn't true, but I'd recommend caution

[theotokos321]

I agree with the above comment. This is from their website. It seems like a wonderful group that helps with the trafficing. I do not believe that their members are encouraged to put themselves in such danger and think that that article is falsly written. 

Talitha Kum is an international network of Consecrated Life against trafficking in persons. Working as a network facilitates collaboration and the interchange of information between consecrated men and women in 70 countries.

Talita Kum was founded in 2009.  It arose from the shared desire to coordinate and strengthen the already existing activities against trafficking undertaken by consecrated persons in the five continents.

Talita Kum is a network of networks, organized in many different ways, each promoting initiatives against trafficking in persons in their particular contexts and cultures.

It is a project of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), in collaboration with the Union of Superiors General (USG).

Our goals

    To promote networking between consecrated persons, social organizations, religious and political leaders at national and international level;
    To strengthen the existing activities and initiatives, optimizing the resources of the consecrated life, to promote preventative actions, awareness raising, protection and assistance of victims as well as official reporting of trafficking;
    To develop educational programs for raising the awareness of this phenomenon, ( and to enhance the professional responses of our members)
    To act prophetically -  condemning  the exploitation of persons for economic or other motives and promoting campaigns aimed at changing of attitudes and practices.

[Nunsuch]

I  know some of the sisters who were involved in founding this organization. The sisters who have gone into the brothels are hardly naive; they are carefully trained and never go alone or without ways of contacting help. On the other hand, the danger is always present, but so is danger in so much of the work that sisters do. Consider that we just commemorated the 35th anniversary of the martyrdom of the 4 churchwomen (3 of them sisters) in El Salvador.... As Sister Ita Ford, one of those martyred in 1980, wrote to her 16-year-old niece shortly before she (Ita) was killed, " I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you...something worth living for, maybe even worth dying for.."  [For the entire letter, see: http://www.lovingjustwise.com/ita's_words.htm]