[Church of the Holy Trinity] Church of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan hosted “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Engines That Drive Human Trafficking” on Wednesday, March 12.  The event was organized by Holy Trinity’s L.O.V.E. (Love Ourselves, Value Everyone) Task Force on Non-Violent Living.  It coincided with the fifty-eighth session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women at the UN’s headquarters in New York from March 10 to 21.  A major theme of the UN’s session has been the promotion of full employment and decent work for women and girls.

The evening began with a live performance of “Trafficked” by Girl Be Heard, a not-for-profit theater collective with a mission to empower young women from challenging circumstances to become brave, confident, socially responsible leaders.  The performance used song, dance and narrative in a series of vignettes exploring various aspects of the sex trafficking subculture.

The panel discussion, moderated by Janelle T. Marshall, a corporate attorney based in New York City, included speakers exploring human trafficking from a wide variety of perspectives:

• Jessica Greer Morris, executive director and co-founder of Girl Be Heard, and herself a survivor of gender-based violence, spoke on the success of the Girl Be Heard project in empowering young women for successful futures.  She was joined on the panel by Melanie Thompson, a Girl Be Heard performer and sex trafficking survivor, who described her trafficking ordeal and how Girl Be Heard has become a second family to her as she plans to enter college and prepare for a career in social work.
• Linda Oalican, a founding member, organizer and board member of the Damayan Migrant Workers Association, and a former domestic worker, spoke on the indignities and exploitation to which domestic migrant workers are often subjected.  She cited the example of Filipino women domestic workers, who are often forced to emigrate due to a lack of employment in their native country, and frequently hesitate to come forward with complaints of abusive labor practices by their employers.
• Deborah Sigmund, founder and director of Innocents at Risk, a non-profit founded in 2005 to help stop the trafficking of women and children, noted that there was little public consciousness of human trafficking prior to the past decade.  She spoke at length on Innocents at Risk’s project—with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security–to educate flight attendants about human trafficking, so that they are prepared to spot and report trafficking victims arriving in the US on international flights.
• Pam Rajput, Ph.D., Chairperson of the Government of India’s High Level Committee on the Status of Women, summarized the various U.N. conventions on human rights that are violated by human trafficking.  She explained that trafficking ranks as the world’s third-largest organized crime after drugs and weapons, and the problem is often invisible to authorities: for example, 35,000 Indian children are reported missing every year, an unknown number of whom are trafficking victims.

Yvonne O’Neal, a member of Holy Trinity’s L.O.V.E. Task force and a former member of Advisory Council to the Anglican Communion Office at the Untied Nations, said of the evening, “I was pleased to put together this informative panel on human trafficking for L.O.V.E. Task Force on Non-Violent Living.  I saw ‘Girl Be Heard’ perform at the Gift Box on January 31, and engaged them on the spot!”

Panelists and attendees adjourned to Holy Trinity’s parish hall following the presentations for a reception, networking and questions for the speakers.

 — Steve Knight is a member of Church of the Holy Trinity, and is active in religious environmental ministry as a GreenFaith fellow.