Al Jazeera, a Middle East news station, reports 350 people in the Caribbean and Latin America have been set free from human trafficking between April 3–9, and 22 people affiliated with the human trafficking, such as the ringleaders were arrested by Interpol, an international police organization.
The operation was funded by Canada’s government and a two and a half-year campaign by Interpol’s human trafficking branch.
Throughout history, humans have been sold into slavery and prostitution. It’s still going on, but organizations are fighting against human trafficking and rescuing people from slavery and prostitution.
The operation took place in 13 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.
Currently, there are more than 2 million people in the Americas who are stuck in human trafficking according to Global Slavery Index 2016.
When the police raided 13 countries in Latin America, what they found was shocking. Cem Kolcu of the International Police comments that victims were found working in night clubs, factories, markets, farms and mines. Some worked in spaces “no bigger than coffins.”
Sarah Paoletti, the director and professor of the Transnational Legal Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, commented to NBC that human trafficking usually happens when people are caught in a never-ending cycle of debt.
Many people who are human trafficked are those who move from a village to a city. They’re looking for a better job where they can make more money. Some even get desperate to feed their family, if it means more money.
Most of those forced into prostitution move into isolated locations, making it more difficult to detect prostitutes and free them, the BBC explains.
The conditions in which the people that are sold into human trafficking have to live in are not advertised, according to Kolcu. The executive director of Interpol commented to BBC that the conditions for those who are being trafficked is the worst in Guyana.
Those who were trafficked in countries including Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are believed to have been migrant workers, NBC reports.
Police throughout the Caribbean Islands and Latin America including Aruba and Caicos Islands as well as Brazil and Venezuela were involved in rescue operations, according to BBC.
The United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ have joined to share Christ’s love to the people of the Caribbean. One thing they do is provide tools to provide tools to address human trafficking.
Pray for more people to be rescued from human trafficking and for an end to slavery.
Pray for the people involved in human trafficking to come to know the Lord.
BBC: Human Trafficking: 350 victims rescued in Caribbean and Latin America
Al Jazeera: Interpol operation rescues hundreds of human trafficking victims
NBC: Hundreds of human trafficking victims freed in 13 countries after vast Interpol operation
