Today, millions of lives around the world are in the grip of injustice. They toil in bondage, where their bodies are not their own but that of somebody who owns them and it is the poor who bear the burden of these abuses.
Human trafficking generates enormous profits for those who sell people into slavery and sexual bondage. The land rights of women and orphans are violated on a massive scale worldwide, and women suffer the double indignity of rape and seeing their perpetrators face no consequences for crimes of sexual violence.
Mercy Aid partners with a Christian human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. Recent examples of people being freed from injustice have included:
'Men, women and children rescued from a brick kiln in Chennai, India. Sparked by a brother’s desperate plea, the operation brought freedom to nearly 400 forced to work in the kiln – including 23 children, the youngest only 8 years old – and their dependents, either too old and frail or too young and weak to work, but still held captive within the factory’s walls.'
'Six victims freed from a brothel in Siem Reap, Cambodia, with the court sentencing three perpetrators to 10 years in prison.'
Some facts;-
The total market value of illicit human trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion (U.N.)
Each year, more than 2 million children are exploited in the global commercial sex trade (UNICEF)
27 million men, women and children are held as slaves. (Kevin Bales, Disposable People)
1 in 5 women is a victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. (U. N. Development Fund for Women)