Mark Little, Founder and Chairman, Rotarian Action Group against Slavery highlights the exploitation of human beings in Malaysia, Australia and the USA. If only these were just isolated incidents ! But it seems there is light at the end of our tunnel of doom and gloom.
Here is Mark's letter.....
Dear Fellow Rotarians,
This month’s issue of the RAGAS Newsletter highlights the exploitation of human beings in Malaysia, Australia and the USA. If only these were just isolated incidents !
Sadly we are living in an era of unprecedented turmoil. Record numbers of people are fleeing wars, persecution and natural disasters, terrorists are lurking on every continent and the international community is grappling with acute migration challenges in regions like the Mediterranean, the Balkans, Africa and the Bay of Bengal. For human traffickers and slave masters, these hardships represent welcome business opportunities and their prime targets for exploitation are the displaced, the very poorest and the most vulnerable human beings on this planet.
All over the world, millions of unsuspecting victims are being deceived & transported across regions, countries and continents for their organs, or pressed into armed combat or forced to toil for little or no pay in factories, fields, homes, quarries, restaurants and in the sex trade where they are used and abused and for young girls repeatedly traded on the female used body market where they are passed from man to man like a shared cigarette…used and then all too often stubbed out.
But NIL DESPERANDUM, it seems there is light at the end of our tunnel of doom and gloom. In Malaysia they are creating a special court specifically to protect the victims of exploitation. In Australia moves are afoot to introduce a comprehensive Modern Slavery Act and in the USA many Rotarians are seriously on the move to eradicate human trafficking and slavery in that country.
So much action against contemporary slavery is now being taken in several US states which uplifts the spirit exponentially. For example in last month’s issue of the Newsletter we highlighted a significant anti-slavery global grant project in District 5180, California. This month we are featuring the fantastic work being done jointly in Minnesota by Rotarians in Districts 5950, 5960 and 5580 and our RAGAS Coordinator in Iowa, Dr George Belitsos (from District 6000) tells us about what is happening in Iowa to obtain volunteer trainers to combat human trafficking and slavery.
Across on the other side of the world, our RAGAS Coordinator in the Philippines, Ernesto Perez shares his dreams and ideas about how to protect the overseas Filipino workers from exploitation.
A plea for information. Chatting with some of you in Atlanta, I realized that there are other clubs/districts which are freshly engaging with similar projects all over the world. If I haven’t heard from you already, how about sharing the details of your project with our readers? This email and its regular Newsletter is initially going out to over 2,300 Rotarians in 66 countries.
Just think of the value of sharing information about your club’s anti-slavery (or proposed) projects with other readers. Not only would you be giving other readers the opportunity to participate in or help your project, you might also galvanize them to join the struggle in their own regions or countries. Why restrict providing news of the significance and usefulness of your anti-slavery project to Rotarians in your own District or even in your own country?
Raising awareness is crucial because it often leads to action. A couple of years ago, Gary Haugen from IJM reminded Rotarians in Seoul of their responsibilities to tackle this obnoxious crime against humanity. As members of Rotary International, it goes without saying (but I am going to) we have a duty to defend the rule of law and order to preserve the liberty of the individual so that all may enjoy freedom of thought, speech or assembly, freedom from persecution and aggression and freedom from want and fear. Edmund Burke said, “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” We must avoid that trap because if we are neutral in situations of injustice, we have already chosen the side of the oppressor and failed all of the tenets of our 4-Way Test.
Yours in Rotary,
Founder and Chairman
Rotarian Action Group against Slavery
For more information on Rotarian Action Group against Slavery, click here.