Topic: The interconnections between poverty (SDG1), Hunger (SDG2), Climate Change (SDG13), migration, and human trafficking, including multi-sectoral collaborative projects (SDG 17) that are addressing the issues.
Sister Francesca Edet Oqua, DC will be on the panel
Date: July 11, 2024 (Thursday) from 1:15-2:45 PM
Co-Sponsors: Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Loreto Generalate, Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, VIVAT International, Justice Coalition of Religious (JCoR), and Mary Ward Centre Toronto
Description:
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced that there were 281 million international migrants globally in 2020 (IOM, 2022), or 3.6 percent of the world’s population living outside their country of origin. People migrate because of “gang violence, natural disasters, unemployment, poverty, lack of access to healthcare, education, water, food, housing, and the consequences of environmental degradation and climate change, as well as the more ‘traditional’ drivers of forced displacement such as persecution and conflict” (HCHR, 2020). These socioeconomic factors and migration both contribute to an individual’s vulnerability to trafficking and exploitation. “While migrants are not inherently vulnerable, they can be vulnerable to human rights violations” (UNHCHR), given the conditions of discrimination, marginalization, and exploitation that they must face. Immigrants and refugees are highly vulnerable to falling into criminal networks of human trafficking. Human trafficking rates continue to rise, with perpetrators evolving ever-new modalities to recruit, confine, and exploit individuals.
This side event will highlight efforts to prevent and respond to incidents of human trafficking and exploitation at local and international levels. Speakers will discuss the interconnections between poverty, migration, and human trafficking and present innovative multi-sectoral collaborative projects that aim to prevent and respond to human trafficking. Speakers include experts and grassroots organizations from Kenya, Nigeria, and Canada.
The projects include:
- Spanish language radio program: “End Human Trafficking: A Commitment for All,” a popular education strategy for the prevention of trafficking in Canada and Latin America, a collaboration of CHHA 1610 AM and the Mary Ward Centre (Toronto, Canada), and AMARC (Latin America)
- The Migrant Workers Exercise – an immersive learning experience of the reality of migrant workers in Canada, a program of the Collaborative Network to End Exploitation (Toronto, Canada)
- Religious Against Human Trafficking (Kenya). Their projects include intervention and prevention strategies, organizing awareness campaigns, and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in the community. She is passionate about ensuring women know their rights and are equipped to defend themselves from being trafficked.