Religious Organizations as Partners in the Global and Local Fight Against Human Trafficking

Abstract

This paper explores the role of religious organizations as effective partners in the fight to end modern day slavery. As a crime with both global and local dimensions, trafficking must be combatted with tools that are both global and local. Such tools include the world’s religions and religious organizations. They have been addressing human trafficking for decades, and through their work with the poor, immigrants, and sexually exploited, they possess significant knowledge of the manifestations of this form of exploitation and can be important stakeholders in combating it. The paper concludes by offering several recommendations for how policymakers can deepen their anti-trafficking collaborations with religious organizations.

Keywords: human trafficking, sex trafficking, labor trafficking, TVPA, Trafficking Victims Protections Act, Palermo Protocol, Vatican, religion,