APD In an effort to bring more attention to international human trafficking, often equated to modern-day slavery, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has joined a coalition of non-profit organizations dedicated to extinguishing this growing practice.

Members of the church's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, met with Ralph Benko and Kari Rai, consultants to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on November 3.

"Between 800,000 and 900,000 people fall victim to human trafficking each year," said Benko. "Many are brought into the U.S. from Asia, Central and South America, and Eastern Europe. They are often brought by force, fraud or coercion which includes violence, false offers of employment, or a variety of threats."

The church's Women's Ministries department has led the way in bringing attention to church members regarding the seriousness of this problem, said Ardis Stenbakken, director of Women's Ministries. "We've been involved in ... specifically human trafficking [issues] for maybe 10 years." Stenbakken explained that she first heard of the issue when she attended the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.

With more than 13 million members worldwide, and 25 million attending worship each week, the church can reach a wide variety of people with this message, said Benko. Also with the church's ethnically diverse membership, "on the frontline [they] are highly likely to discover human trafficking," Benko added.

Some of the requirements for joining the coalition include: disseminating information about trafficking, hosting information sessions and encouraging other organizations to join. The coalition, which was launched in January, provides posters, brochures, pocket cards and computer slide presentations free for coalition members to distribute.

HHS initiated The Campaign to Rescue and Restore Victims of Human Trafficking as part of a national public awareness campaign in April. The campaign aims to help the public identify victims and give them information on how to help them.

"Restore and Rescue is staffed by Covenant House, with people who speak 150 languages and are available [24 hours a day, seven days a week.] They are also trained in ways to help rescue human trafficking victims," said Benko

James Standish, of the church's Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL) department, said some people don't believe that the problem is very widespread, but added, "It's hard to know how many people are affected... People are not advertising illegal activities. We don't know how many [victims] are out there but we won't know ... until people become aware that there is help."

Along with Stenbakken and Standish, Heather-Dawn Small, associate director of Women's Ministries; Linda Koh, Children's Ministries director; and Viola Hughes, a specialist for PARL, attended the meeting. They promised to work diligently to get the word out to their departments and consequently to the entire membership. Stenbakken said Women's Ministries will write about the issue in their newsletter and will distribute the literature the Coalition provides.

The U.S. Department of State has worked with 36 countries to enact laws against this practice as well as domestically, said Benko. "The Administration has spent [U.S.] $80 million over the last three years to rescue 600 traffic victims," he added.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 provides victims with a temporary visa and help to rebuild their lives in the United States. However, Benko said some do not participate because victims are required to work with law enforcement.

"We are not talking about [just a] Third World problem but ... it's everybody's problem," said Small.

For more information about human trafficking, see their Web site at http://www2.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking/index.html [Editor: Taashi Rowe for ANN/APD]