On the 30th of July 2019, I was invited to attend a show given by young Indian survivors of Trafficking coming to Europe (St James of Compostela, Belgium and Rome, as far as I know). Sylvie Bianchi (from SAMILIA) has been attending a presentation on Human trafficking I gave in our community which is located in the red-light district of Brussels, so I went to “La Tricoterie”, a very special place welcoming the group and many other activities.

We had a beautiful moment, as the girls play their own journey through trafficking and surviving, from their childhood up to now: students or formators…

In turn, they very simply play their own stories and their story together, sometimes interacting with the attendance (200 people or so) and it was emotional indeed when they were in tears while going through their painful past…

14 girls from

17 to 23 years old

Every 10 or 15 minutes, they invited us to join in, or playing with them, or answering a few questions or asking for our reaction to the play.

This above part of the play was one which shew us how they were shackled by being trafficked, and the way they got out of it, with a large scarf they bounded them in.

At the end of the play, I told them: “We all have to learn from you” …

And then the UN Ambassador gave them all a present and sung for them to thank them and their staff for their play and above all for their courage!

https://www.facebook.com/FondationSamilia

Marie Hélène Halligon

“The Red Light Express”

On 20th July 2019, Malta launched the National Education campaign on Human Trafficking. The launch took place in the Cardinal`s Hall at the Inquisitor`s Palace in Vittoriosa ( Birgu).

RENATE member, Sr. Margaret Gonzi, olcgs, attended, representing the domestic violence shelter Dar Merhba Bik Foundation. Margaret was delighted to attend and took the opportunity to network with the invited guests and also promote the work of RENATE. Margaret believes that ‘Human Like You’ campaign will educate people on the different forms of human trafficking in society, with educational campaigns highlighting real-life cases, how they occur and how one can protect oneself from vulnerability to trafficking.

“People think it’s only illegal immigration and sex work, but there is more to human trafficking than we think,” Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Julia Farrugia Portelli said. A consultation process on human trafficking will be undertaken by the government, putting at the forefront the people’s views and opinions on the issues. “When the consultation process is complete, we will go back to people with viable solutions,” the parliamentary secretary said.

At the forefront of the campaign is a newly launched website which features real stories of people who were the victims of human trafficking, available at: https://trafficking.gov.mt/en/

Margaret is keen to follow up on this Human Trafficking awareness-raising campaign and looks forward to the success of the campaign as it extends across the country.

UK’s former anti-slavery commissioner Kevin Hyland, OBE, has been in Austral-Asia in July, meeting political and business leaders and discussing the crime of Human Trafficking and Exploitation.

Currently, despite being illegal worldwide, 40-45 million people live in slavery, one quarter of whom are children. Two thirds of modern slaves are held in the Austral-Asia region, the largest number of slaves the world has ever seen.

A panel of experts got together recently in New South Wales Parliament House, Australia,  to discuss modern slavery, forced slavery and human trafficking.

Log on to the following link, to hear Kevin’s interview with Andrew West of ABC  broadcasting studios, Australia.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/religionandethicsreport/slavery/11313704

The Refugee Hosts project is pleased to announce this two day conference, bringing together key academics, practitioners, creatives and experts in the fields of migration, displacement and refugees, to challenge, inform and debate dominant humanitarian discourse, the politics and ethics of knowledge production, and current theory and practice in relation to forced migration.

Where: IAS Common Ground, University College London. (click here for full address and map). There will also be live-streaming of the Conference, with subtitles

Through a series of presentations, panel and roundtable discussions, workshops and film screenings, the conference provides an opportunity to join Refugee Hosts’ ‘community of conversation’ on key themes including:

• Disrupting humanitarian narratives
• Stories of overlapping displacement
• Hosting, hospitality and the common good
• The politics and ethics of knowledge production in refugee and conflict situations
• Translation, literature and refugee response
• Rethinking community, rights and displacement

Through these debates and conversations, the conference will evaluate future opportunities and challenges for understanding and responding to forced displacement and refugees, and will map out future research and policy agendas.

Refugee Hosts Conference Infomration

To register for the event please visit the conference Eventbrite page.

2019 marked another year of increased and dynamic campaigns across the RENATE network, raising awareness about Human  Trafficking and Exploitation.

From Flash mobs in Albania to the launch at the UN of Talitha Kum’s photographic exhibition of Nun’s healing Hearts campaign; from the launch of Fundacion Amaranta’s new manifesto in Spain to the launch of a new Human Trafficking awareness group in Cork city Ireland (Cork Against Human Trafficking) and from training seminars, fun-runs to prayer meetings, a myriad of activities continue to take place.

True to the RENATE policy statement on Human Trafficking and the Law, ‘RENATE endeavours to abolish all forms of human trafficking and exploitation that violates the human dignity and rights of persons. Throughout its European Network, RENATE adopts a Victim-Centred, Human Rights, Trauma-informed approach in relation to the Law,’  we are united in our work to maintain the dignity of the human person and to combat human trafficking and exploitation in all its guises.

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