Report from RENATE member Alec Bvumburah, of the Cross Culture Foundation, Malta, on the launch of a research report on the occasion of the European Day against Human Trafficking, 18 October 2020.

Today the 18th of October 2020 is EU Anti human Trafficking Day, aims to raise public awareness of the global problem of human trafficking, as well as to emphasize the right of all human trafficking victims to justice and compensation.

Today sees the launch of a collaborative research report which is intended to assist youth workers in identifying victims of human trafficking and exploitation.

#YUWOK2ENDHT partners have finalized the research focused on methods of advancing and exploitation and the different practices for emergence and identification and support for victims in Malta, Italy, North Macedonia & Romania. This will help to support youth workers to prevent human trafficking among #youths with valid tools to address the need area, spread awareness and best practices.

Report available at: https://drive.google.com/…/1vCA6xHlqGonHffVfQwc…/view…

#humantraffickingprevention #humantraffickingawareness #erasmusplusproject #youwok2endhumantrafficking #yuwok2end

#crosscultureinternationalfoundationmalta

CESIE    

Отворена Порта – Open Gate: La Strada Macedonia

and

Reaching Out Romania

Missing Persons’ Families Support Centre in Vilnius, participates in a multi-city event performance, to mark the 18 October, European Day against Human Trafficking.

Augusta Kierienė & Natalja Kurčinskaja.

Taking place simultaneously in five biggest cities of Lithuania, we presented the issue of human trafficking, by means of drama and street theatre thus touching on different topics and reaching more than 300 participants, over 30 institutions and organizations and departments.

Our Centre ‘’The Missing Persons’ Families Support Centre- represented Vilnius city – capital of Lithuania. Our theme was “Youth exploitation, sexual offenses and pornography on the Internet”. During the event we tried to attract as many young people as possible, using interactive questionnaire-quiz testing young people’s knowledge about cybersecurity.

We had a stand to reflect the problems of the topic where everyone could stick a sticker if they had encountered this phenomenon.

We are very happy that we also had a tent where a specialist counselled the victims.

A very important detail of the event was the performance. We have shown that not everything is real in cyberspace.

The following are the agencies with whom we cooperated in order to prepare and participate in the event:

Ministry of Internal Affairs,

Lithuanian police,
National Anti-Trafficking Association,
Vilnius city municipality,

Vilnius district municipality,
Caritas Lithuania,

Vilnius Archdiocese Community.

In the cities below,  the following topics were covered as by our colleagues:

Kaunas  – The topic of “Slavery labour”

Klaipėda – The topic of “The last girl first” (against prostitution)

Panevėžys – The topic of “Against trafficking in human beings, including in the commission of crimes”

Tauragė – The topic of “Sexual exploitation and involvement of minors in criminal activities.”

In conclusion, while it was a lot of hard work, during extremely pandemic difficult times, we are happy with the success of the events overall. Not only did we reach so many hundreds of people directly, we are confident that more people will be discussing the events for a long time to come.

The work gone into the events helped us to further forge our links with the above agencies, with whom we try to work collaboratively in the common mission to prevent human trafficking, exploitation and the disappearance of our citizens.

To view a video about that day performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIoeBF6tzkc&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2MKUTIvATkVHkSWg7_LmruNhTUZFi0toJ1mwE8559MrfTofe6_8EOebSI

International webinars on Human Trafficking in light of ‘’Laudato ‘Si’’ and ‘’Fratelli Tutti’’ Encyclicals.

Tuesday 20, October 2020, 18:00-19:30 (CET)- ‘’Religious working in International Advocacy against Human Trafficking’’.

Register at: https://adlaudatosi.org/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=webinar_tuesday_october_27_religious_working_in_international_advocacy_against_human_trafficking&utm_term=2020-10-22

Speakers:

Professor Michel Veuthey, Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta to monitor and combat human trafficking.

Sr. Mirjam Beike, OLCGS, Congregation of the Good Shepherd Sisters’ NGO representative at the UN in Geneva. Mirjam is a RENATE member and has worked for 30 years with survivors of human trafficking in Germany and Albania.

Sr. Imelda Poole, OBE, IBVM, President of RENATE– Religious in Europe Networking against Trafficking and Exploitation. RENATE is a European network of Religious and Lay co-workers working in all fields against human trafficking in 31 European countries.

Sr. Winifred Doherty, OLCGS, NGO representative at the UN in New York, for the Congregation of the Good Shepherd Sisters. Winifred spent 16 years in Ethiopia, empowering girls and women through education-providing alternatives to prostitution and lessening vulnerability to being trafficked.    

Mr. Luke de Pulford, Director and co-founder of the ARISE Foundation, preventing slavery in source communities by developing and supporting frontline groups and networks. Much of Luke’s professional life has focussed on the UK Parliament, where he is well known for his work in the defence of the dignity of the human person.   

RENATE Core Group member Patricia Mulhall, CSB, teaching computer skills at Caritas Bakhita House, London, UK- Oct. 2020.

What can I do?

The importance of sharing one’s gifts and talents can make the world of difference to the lives of those who have been victimised by traffickers.

RENATE Core Group member, Patricia Mulhall, CSB, shares with us some correspondence acknowledging the assistance provided to Human Trafficking survivors at Caritas Bakhita House, London, UK, where Patricia volunteers to teach computer skills.

‘’I write to thank you for the recent donation of Office windows packages and a stand-alone computer to the guests at Caritas Bakhita House.

We support the women here to move forward in a safe way to find an independence without control and exploitation. Many of the routes to that life involve technology. They want to attend counselling, schooling, make contact with family members, meet new groups of friends, the list is endless but the common factor is they all need to be able to access technology to do any of this, especially now with COVID-19.

Some things in life can be taken for granted like the internet and lap tops but actually they are crucial to many peoples continuing wellbeing.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping provide the technology that our guests need in their continued fight for better lives! It means so much to them.

Best Wishes Guests and Staff at Caritas Bakhita House.’’