A Church that tackles one of the “greatest scourges of our time”

A 2022 report by Freedom House, a body that assesses the health of human rights in respective countries, said Ireland ranked 39/40 in the political rights category and 58/60 in the civil liberties category, concluding that Ireland ranked 97/100 when overall freedom was examined closely.

On the surface, all seems well and good, and it probably would be if our attention had not been drawn to an area that we have consistently failed to address as a nation until very recently – namely the horror of human trafficking – a problem that Pope Francis calls “one of the most terrible scourges of our time” and an industry where human beings and their inherent dignity are devalued in favor of profit and greed.

But while Ireland struggles to come to grips with the whole problem, the Church, for its part, has acquired formidable expertise in identifying the characteristics of this deplorable movement and in actively seeking solutions to try to end its presence in the societies where it has been allowed to flourish.

Traffic

Sister Liz Murphy, a Sister of Mercy, knows first-hand how the problem of human trafficking plays out in our society. A long-time campaigner, Sister Liz was involved in legislation to prevent human trafficking (APT) and was the guest of the Garda Commissioner at the Santa Marta Conference on Human Trafficking last week at University College Cork, an event attended by 80 delegates from 20 international police forces, as well as other representatives of the Church, including the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols. The event led to a commitment by Justice Minister Helen McEntee to bring in new laws to formally recognise victims of human trafficking in the coming weeks.

Sister Liz spoke about the event on the State of the Nation podcast, explaining that it was a product of Pope Francis’ relationship with global police networks. “It was a gathering of many people who are involved in the networks that the Church is involved in,” she said. “Let me say that the word ‘human trafficking’ is really the modern word for slavery. This conference follows a similar one that was held last year in Lithuania, to which I was also invited. It’s based on the relationship between Pope Francis and police networks, not just in Europe, but in some 52 countries today.”

One of the key moments of the two days was when Mia told her personal story, for over half an hour, and she received a standing ovation.

Asked how she defines human trafficking, Sister Liz bluntly described it as “the slavery of people” and stressed that it is not limited to certain sectors or industries and has become a widespread problem encompassing a variety of areas such as “agriculture, domestic service and the sex trade.”

“I think maybe instead of thinking about that [human trafficking] “In terms of prostitution, which is what I think a lot of people think about in the fight against trafficking, it’s now prevalent in the movement of people,” she said. “Let me repeat, it’s the slavery of people in agriculture, domestic service, the sex trade, everywhere, as well as in the various service industries.”

With delegates tasked with not only tackling this long-standing and increasingly serious problem, but also providing solutions, Sister Liz said that while some very harrowing personal stories were detailed at the event, the atmosphere was “cordial” and everyone felt the gravity of the situation they were facing.

“A highlight of the two days was a personal story of a woman, Mia, which lasted over half an hour and received a standing ovation. On the second day, Alan Lynch told the story of an Indonesian man who was trafficked to Ireland and ended up on a cannabis plantation in Galway.”

“A man thought his family had paid him money from his home village to come to Europe and Ireland to live a good life,” she said. “It turned out that the money was actually going to a criminal gang. He owed $200,000 over his lifetime. I’m talking years now, not just months. It took years to pay that money back.”

Potential

Although Ireland has been accused of being complacent in its fight against the scourge of human trafficking, the Church has decades of experience in identifying, managing and addressing the problem and the Church-led anti-trafficking initiatives that Sister Liz speaks of demonstrate that the Church has the potential to be at the forefront of this movement, providing humane and pastoral care to those who have been subjected to it and education to those who are removed from its horrors but are conscientious and still have the power to bring about societal change.

“There is a church group that has done a number of projects since it was founded in the 1980s,” she said. “They meet on the second Monday of every month. Our main program right now is a program called Captors, which is for senior primary school students and is tailored to parishes. It’s a series of videos.

“Sister Liz also pointed out that the same problems persist due to the lack of a coordinated strategic plan from the bishops.”

In these videos, you see how people are trafficked from, for example, China, Indonesia, basically from Asia, to Romania, for example. That's a whole other topic. And then how someone can end up in Ireland and where you find them. So for girls, let's say in high school, it's nail bars. It could be the person who serves you coffee or even who works in car washes.

Sister Liz stressed that events like the one in Cork are essential to inspire people to take up the cause to which she has devoted much of her ministry. With the Irish bishops collectively denouncing human trafficking as “a form of modern slavery in Ireland,” the conference ultimately bore fruit for Sister Liz and Catholics concerned about our country’s handling of the problem. But Sister Liz also stressed that the same problems persist because of the bishops’ lack of a coordinated strategic plan.

“I think it was helpful that we had two bishops present,” she said. “The Bishop of Cork was there, naturally, because it was in his territory. And I think that may have been an eye-opener, because I know the bishops referred to it in their own statement and we agreed with them, but there was no significant action plan within the hierarchical Church, if I may say so.”

Awareness

While many people in Ireland are unaware of the scale of human trafficking in the country and how sophisticated and lucrative the industry is, Sr Liz believes the key word when discussing human trafficking in Ireland is 'awareness' and this is something we all need to develop if we are to have any chance of overcoming the problem once and for all.

And I just think about the increasing number of migrants coming here. Maybe it's becoming more difficult to identify them.

“I think awareness is the key word, because how aware are we of what’s going on?” she said. “I wasn’t aware of some of the situations that were described at the conference. But I think most of the energy needs to be put into awareness. There’s a new national plan that was launched by the Minister of Justice in November, and this week the Dail is considering a law that will become statutory, called the National Referral Mechanism, which will give people more opportunities to pick up a phone and call if they see something, if they have any suspicions.”

“I spoke to someone on the street. I remember a place I lived a few years ago and I could look out the kitchen window as I walked into the place I was staying and I could see four Asian girls and when I came back and I saw a man smoking a cigarette outside at night, I’m still haunted by that. Should I have done something about it now? I’m more aware of it now than I was then. But even the suspicion of something, and that’s where the Garai’s collaboration with the Santa Marta group is vital now. I think maybe, the training that we talked about, whether it’s through action or through rumour, I think every parish needs to know that these resources are readily available.

“I also think about the increasing number of migrants arriving here. It may be becoming more difficult to identify them.”

Commenting on the seemingly endless number of tents erected in Dublin city centre, Sister Liz is “dreading” how the situation will evolve in the next 5 years and believes that living in a tent is “degrading”.

“When I look around and I hear the news, I see all these tents, whether it’s by the canal or elsewhere, and I don’t want to focus on Dublin, just because I live in Dublin, but how is their emotional life acknowledged in any way?” she said. “I dread to think what’s going to happen in the next five years. Living in a tent is degrading in itself.”

Reflection

Reflecting on the future role of the Church in combating human trafficking, Sister Liz stressed that it is essential that we coordinate our efforts within the Church and that we all stand up and take collective responsibility as Christians to shine a light on an issue that she firmly believes is “a crime against humanity.”

We are all in this together as a Church and this is a crime against humanity.

Related