On World Day Against Trafficking in Persons—30 July—the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation co-hosted a joint webinar on human trafficking that put the voices of survivors first.
Ruth Mathen, a young Orthodox woman serving with the Christian Conference of Asia, moderated the discussion. “Human trafficking is one of the most vile assaults on the fundamental dignity and the rights of human beings, reducing them to mere commodities and objects,” she said. “As the COVID-19 crisis continues to cast a long shadow over global recovery and rehabilitation with many millions of children out of work and out of school, we are seeing a rise in the online preying upon and grooming of victims.”
