Human Trafficking: A Crime Against Humanity

“If the world takes something from us on the one hand, God will give us something on the other.”

St. Louise de Marillac

By S. Louise Lears

St. Josephine Bakhita, born in 1869 in southern Sudan, was kidnapped as a very young girl and sold and resold in the markets of El Obeid and Khartoum. The name Bakhita, which ironically means ‘fortunate one,” was given to her by the traffickers because she could not remember her own name. Eventually freed, she entered the Canossian Sisters and was canonized in 2000 as the patron saint of victims and survivors of human trafficking.

Sadly, St. Josephine Bakhita’s traumatic experiences of slavery still exist in the form of human trafficking, modern-day slavery. Every year, tens of millions of women, children and men fall into the hands of traffickers in their home countries and abroad. Trafficking does not discriminate; it affects people of all ages, races, educations, and backgrounds.

Women’s religious congregations have long recognized that human trafficking is not only a serious crime but also a rejection of the God-given dignity of every human being. In 2013, 15 Sisters from different congregations met to share their anti-trafficking resources. They created a national network, the U.S. Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking. As the network grew to include others, it became the Alliance to End Human Trafficking. Today, members of the Alliance include 200-plus women’s religious congregations, coalitions working against human trafficking, men’s religious congregations, and individuals who share the mission to end human trafficking.

The Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati are actively engaged in the efforts to end human trafficking. In 2015, a small group of Sisters proposed that the congregation take a public stand to abolish human trafficking. They pointed to the congregational Charism Statement, which calls us to “dare to risk a caring response” and the 1990 Vision Statement, which challenges us to “risk being prophetic in church and society.” In October 2015, after a period of education, discernment and prayer, the Sisters approved a public congregational stand: “The Sisters of Charity believe that the practice of human trafficking should be abolished in law and in practice.” Sisters and Associates have been living out this stand in a number of ways.

S. Sally Duffy serves on the Board of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking.

Sally Duffy originally became involved with efforts to end human trafficking because of her work with immigrants. She saw that the vulnerability of immigrants – wary of legal authorities; forced into shadows; economically dependent; dehumanized – lends itself to human trafficking. Estimates are that 70 percent of those who are trafficked are immigrants. The intersection between immigration and human trafficking compels her to co-lead a congregational Justice Circle that engages Sisters and Associates through education, prayer services, webinars, newsletters, and legislative advocacy.

In 2020, S. Sally was asked by the Ohio Justice and Policy Center to organize religious congregations to write letters on behalf of Alexis Martin, a survivor of human trafficking. Alexis had served almost 12 years in prison, incarcerated since she was 15, accused of being an accomplice to murder of her alleged abuser. S. Sally’s in-person meeting with Alexis began a long journey of accompaniment with Alexis, who now lives in her own apartment, works full-time, and is one course away from an associate degree.

Sally remains committed to ending human trafficking because of her firm belief that everyone has a God-given dignity that must be protected. She continues to serve on the Board of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, most recently as the president.

“Where safeguards weaken, exploitation follows; where communities strengthen safety and opportunity, trafficking is reduced.” – S. Sally Duffy, SC

S. Pat Sabourin (right) has been a faithful to promoting awareness of the harms of human trafficking and the availability of services for victims and survivors.

After S. Patricia Sabourin returned to the United States from seven years abroad in Malawi and England, she met with Sisters from different congregations to address human trafficking in Cincinnati. She committed to a six-week program led by End Slavery Cincinnati at the Salvation Army. S. Pat learned that entire families and children can be trafficked as well as adult women and men.

These learnings compelled her to engage in multiple activities to promote awareness of the harms of human trafficking and the availability of services for victims and survivors. She posted information in community rooms and elevators on the Mount St. Joseph campus; traveled to parishes at night to offer educational sessions; and placed bars of soap in hotels and motels with a hotline number on the bottom. She continues to disseminate information about human trafficking on a regular basis.

S. Pat believes that “human trafficking will be with us always.” Yet, we cannot close our eyes and ears. We cannot become complacent about the evils of human trafficking. As she demonstrates, everyone can do something to raise awareness.

S. Marcel DeJonckheere heard S. Pat talk about human trafficking and could not believe that sex trafficking was happening in plain sight, in her own city. She learned that End Slavery Cincinnati needed volunteers for night outreach to women who were prostituted. The volunteers would go out twice a week between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. to deliver small bags of personal care items and snacks to the women.

In her orientation, S. Marcel learned that “pimps,” usually male, controlled five to six prostituted women in a specific geographic area. One woman, called the “bottom,” kept the other women in line; otherwise, she or her family suffered consequences. The pimps were always close by and sometimes chased the van.

S. Marcel DeJonckheere (left) has actively involved in raising awareness and supporting human trafficking victims for years.

One night, S. Marcel delivered a personal care bag to a young woman who remembered S. Marcel as her sixth grade teacher. S. Marcel remembered the woman’s first name; the young woman did not want to share her last name – perhaps ashamed?S. Marcel continued in this ministry for about five years, involving other Sisters in preparing the personal care bags. What kept her going? She wanted the women to know they are not invisible; someone knows they are there. “I still feel those experiences in my bones,” she says. “I pray for these women every day.”

Modern-day slavery may seem too overwhelming for any one person or group to make a difference; yet, as these Sisters and others demonstrate, there are steps each of us can take to make a difference. One immediate step is to urge our elected officials to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection and Prevention Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1144), a bipartisan bill that reauthorizes anti-trafficking programs through FY2029.

Most importantly, we can pray each day to abolish this crime against humanity. We can ask St. Josephine Bakhita to intercede with God on behalf of those who are victims and survivors of human trafficking.

“Ultimately, the violence of human trafficking can be overcome only through a renewed vision that beholds every individual as a beloved child of God.” Pope Leo, Feb. 6, 2026, prior to the 12th International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking

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