About three years ago my wife and I swung by Kolkotta on a trip between Bangalore and Kathmandu. It was in Bangalore where we visited Asha Kiran, the school for special needs children referred to in one of my previous articles on children. In Kathmandu we visited the woman who introduced us to the Musahar people, the tribe that is the prototype for this series.
In Kolkotta (formerly known as Calcutta) our guide was Madeline Linnell. We knew Madeline through her father, Julian, who succeeded me as Director of Anglican Frontier Missions. Madeline was an intern at the Kolkotta office of International Justice Mission (IJM). What we learned in those days with her made a lasting impression about trafficking and the scarcity of justice.
Kolkotta is the major hub for sex trafficking in all of Asia. The statistics accompanying that status tell of a world hidden and foul. The goal of IJM is justice. Their place of engagement is more often the courts, rather than places of rescue, though they certainly miss no opportunity to bring many out of slavery.
Seeking justice for sex traffickers takes the people of IJM into levels of sordid corruption. The work of IJM is heavy—both by the challenges of their legal efforts and by the resistance from the spiritual strongholds they encounter. Success only comes when victims have courage to speak publicly, traffickers can be caught, and the police do not collaborate with the traffickers. They work, as Constance says, with fear and trembling, and they know the evil and the evildoers up close and personal.
Two prominent features of the office at IJM stood out. First, the seriousness of their corporate worship. It is a daily ritual, with a Bible passage and homily, singing, and testimony. The prayers of the day reflect the people they support as well as the the forces they oppose.
Second, the daily routine in the office is livened by tricks—surprises, jokes, pranks, anything that lifts the atmosphere. They even enjoy competition between the separate offices for unexpected shenanigans.
Both of those features, I do believe, keep Satan at bay.
In our conversation at the IJM office one lawyer brought up the Super Bowl. “Many men show up who put their morals to the side and find a sex worker, probably one who has been trafficked.” That sentiment is often made, but the association of Super Bowl with sex workers may be overstated. The opportunity for the sex trade is certainly high at the Super Bowl but probably no higher than at most other major sport events.
Protests at the Beijing Olympics, however, have highlighted the Chinese genocide of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province. In this case the world has pictures of the camps, the trains, and the places of “re-education.” In addition, testimony has come out of the torture and enslavement of this people.
These protests at the Olympics reflect the growing public awareness of sex trafficking and the power of public opinion against the perpetrators. A couple of examples illustrate this.
In March of 2020 reports came out of forced child labor being used by farmers who sourced the coffee for Starbucks. The company immediately instituted a zero tolerance for such sources. The Philippine government has acknowledged the horrific sex trade going out of that country and has emerged as a key force with IJM in combatting the slave trade there. Uber drivers and airline staff in the Los Angeles area are being trained to spot women who may be trafficked in preparation for the Super Bowl. Massive pressure has turned on large companies like Nike, Apple, and Under Armour whose sources in the past have relied on child labor or slaves.
Still, the on-going presence of slave trade and child labor is pernicious and pervasive. After all, what else can we expect from the spiritual forces of evil and the wickedness of the human heart. Public pressure does not see most of the hidden places where women and children are treated with dehumanizing abuse. (Source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/reports/child-labor/list-of-goods-print)
Kilns in India, North Korea, Pakistan, Cambodia: In Haryana, alone, there are about 40,000 children making bricks.
Diamond mines in Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Congo, Liberia: Children between 5 and 17 work in underground mines in hazardous conditions.
Fishing boats on Lake Volta, Ghana, Peru, Indonesia: Children must go under water to free nets from stumps and fallen trees.
Coffee plantations in Brazil, Costa Rica, Yemen, Tanzania, Panama, Kenya: Forcibly recruited children may not leave the plantations, are not paid, and have no means to return home.
Brothels: in most countries: A shroud kept by the malice of their pimps hides the sadness of these women. Their number is legion, and their life knows only lies, deceit, and darkness.
The common theme underlying the millions of people enslaved is quite simple. Owners deceive the families with loans, forcing the enslaved children to work in forced labor until the debt is paid. For forced labor, Work conditions include long hours, insufficient food, the threat of beatings, and isolation for their families. For sex slaves, they are the possessions of their pimps.
Most of the products from most of these countries are in compliance with fair contractual agreements about age, hours, and compensation. Still, beyond the “most” lie 40 million slaves in the world today. A close look at who they are next week.
I close with the two questions for us:
What can we do to assist them: One answer is to learn about them. Here are websites that tell their stories.
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/forced-labour/s
This website gives prayer suggestions for each day:
https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/forced-labour/
What can we learn from them: Two things, both about evil: 1) The power of evil, Satan’s domain clearly exposed. 2) The line dividing good and evil does not separate bad people and good people but goes through the heart of every human being, even ours. At least, that is what Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said as he reflected on the horrors inside the Gulag and inside his own heart.
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