A network of human trafficking has ditched their habits to dress like prostitutes
and infiltrate brothels worldwide in an effort to rescue victims of sex
trafficking and buy children sold into slavery.
The group of 1,100 religious sisters, known as Talitha Kum, currently works undercover in brothels in at least 80 countries, helping to free victims of sex trafficking and slavery.
John Studzinski, the investment banker and philanthropist who chairs
Talitha Kum, said the group is looking to expand its reach to 140
countries, according to Reuters.
"These sisters do not trust anyone," Studzinski, a vice chairman of
The Blackstone Group, recently told the Trust Women Conference on
women's rights and trafficking hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
"They do not trust governments, they do not trust corporations, and
they don't trust the local police. In some cases they cannot trust male
clergy," he said in a Nov. 18 speech. "They work in brothels. No one
knows they are there."
"I'm not trying to be sensational, but I'm trying to underscore the
fact this is a world that has lost innocence ... where dark forces are
active," he told the conference. "These are problems caused by poverty
and equality, but it goes well beyond that."
Studzinski cited egregious cases of trafficking and slavery,
including the story of a woman forced to have sex with 10 men at the
same time,
He also said Talitha Kum -- which translated from Aramaic means arise
child -- raises money to buy children who are sold into slavery by
their parents in places like Africa, the Philippines, Brazil and India.
"This is a new network of houses for children around the world who
would otherwise be sold into slavery. It is shocking but it is real,"
Studzinski said, according to Reuters.
But not all anti-trafficking groups agree with the work of Talitha Kum.
Christina Arnold, founder and CEO of Prevent Human Trafficking,
said the group of sisters, while well-intentioned, "may be doing more
harm than good."
"When you the buy the victim, you just drive up the cost for brothel
owners or traffickers trying to sell in the future," Arnold told
FoxNews.com Tuesday.
"It sounds like a good idea but it's actually a ludicrous one," said
Arnold, who spent many years living in southeast Asia, including
Thailand, which she described as the "epicenter" for human trafficking.
"People have their hearts in the right place," she added. "But are
these nuns going to go into fishing boats? Because that's where the
biggest number of slave traffickers are right now."
"The majority of trafficking is labor trafficking," Arnold said.
There are conflicting figures on the number of people trafficked each
year in the world. According to Reuters, Talitha Kum reports that 73
million people, roughly 1 percent of the world's population, are
trafficked in some form -- a number Arnold disputes.
According to the International Labor Organization,
nearly 21 million people are victims of forced labor – 11.4 million
women and girls and 9.5 million men and boys. Almost 19 million victims
are exploited by private individuals or enterprises and more than 2
million by the state or rebel groups. Of those exploited by individuals
or enterprises, 4.5 million are victims of forced sexual exploitation,
according to ILO.
"Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and is a worldwide
phenomenon," Robyn Shepherd, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International,
told FoxNews.com.
"Victims are trafficked into a range of hazardous labor including
farm work, sweatshops, domestic servants, forced prostitution and are
subjected to sexual abuse and other forms of violence," Shepherd said.
"Trafficking is a fundamental abuse of human rights and includes the
abuse of the rights to: physical integrity, life, liberty, security of
person, dignity, freedom from slavery, torture, and other inhuman or
degrading treatment."
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