rsday, Michael Nguyen and I attended a seminar on HUMAN TRAFFICKING. It was organized by the Catholic Religious Australia-Victoria (CRA-V) held at the Mary MacKillop Centre, Hawthorn East, Vic. (cf. photo).The CRA-V is committed to working together towards the elimination of human trafficking in Australia, the Asia Pacific and internationally. There were about 50 participants, both men and women religious. Five women religious (from different congregations) gave a team-presentation which made it very interesting. Like “Charlie’s angels”, they did th
eir job with aplomb.In the open forum, Michael shared with the audience his special ministry for the Vietnamese victims of human trafficking in Taiwan (cf. photo). He said that in 2005 and 2007 there were 65,000 and 100,000 Vietnamese respectively who were trafficked to Taiwan. The
root cause of this modern slavery is poverty. The report of Michael must have had an impact to the group, because subsequent speakers later were quoting him. During the break, some asked Michael’s contact number and address for future networking – an instant celebrity. Good on you, Michael!Did you know:
* That each year 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders and that the trade is growing?
* That human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organized crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking?
* That the UN estimates trafficking is a 5-7 billion US dollars operation annually?
* That PROJECT RESPECT estimates that 1000-1500 women are trafficked in Australia?
* That UNICEF reports that 200,000 children are trafficked yearly in West and Central Africa?
Source: Statistics given from a handout leaflet during the seminar
