The Locust Effect: Why The End Of Poverty Requires The End Of Violence

In the following quote Gary Haugen sums up the title and the premise of his new book The Locust Effect. “Without the world noticing, the locusts of common, criminal violence are right now ravaging the lives and dreams of billions of our poorest neighbors.” It is rare, that a statement like this, one so enormous, so far reaching in its implications, so shocking in its claim can also be undeniably true. As with the holocaust or the purgings of Stalin or Mao's "great leap forward" that saw 45 million killed in 4 years, all humanity wonders aloud how this could be happening under our noses, "without the world noticing". They ask where the good people are? The collective ego assumes we have evolved past this sort of mass evil. Mr. Haugen goes on to indict us all.

“One would hope that if the world woke up to such a reality, it would swiftly acknowledge and respond to the disaster—but tragically, the world has neither woken up to the reality nor responded in a way that offers meaningful hope for the poor. It has mostly said and done nothing. And as we shall see, the failure to respond to such a basic need—to prioritize criminal justice systems that can protect poor people from common violence—has had a devastating impact on two great struggles that made heroic progress in the last century but have stalled out for the poorest in the twenty-first century: namely, the struggle to end severe poverty and the fight to secure the most basic human rights.”

Here are just a few statistics from The Locust Effect that we at COH found excruciating.

-29.8 million men, women and children enslaved today

-70% of women in Peru have been the victims of rape or attempted rape.

-95% of women and girls who have reported sexual violence are still waiting for justice. Average wait time 6 years for those that finally get justice. Most do not.

-Only 5 perpetrators of forced labor in India have been arrested in the last 15 years. There are upwards of 10 million enslaved in India in forced labor.

-Worldwide there are nearly 2 million children in the sex trade.

-Every year 5 million people are the victims of forced eviction. 

-In the developing world school is the most prevalent place for sexual violence. This means more girls denied education when parents keep them home to keep them safe. And of course many girls dropping out of school traumatized by the sexual violence.

-And finally, the statistic that brings this all together in staggering, mind-bending soul-crushing fashion, 4 billion of the world's poorest people are estimated to live outside of the protection of the law.

In the absence of enforced law the strong take from the weak whenever they desire. Land, sex, physical labor; all the poor have, coerced or stolen or worse from them all across the developing world. The problem is deeply complex, rooted in and mired by years of bad governance and inattention by the world community. And though it speaks to the wickedness men are capable of it also reveals how this same wickedness can be kept in relative check where there is rule of law. Please read this book. It will change how you understand poverty, how you view the world. 

A Valentine From The Philippines: An Interview With Crystal Sprague

Today is a day when love in its many incarnations is celebrated with gifts of flowers and chocolates and the ramblings of the Hallmark poets clumsily trying to express the way you feel about someone whom the poet has never met; alas, 'tis Valentine's Day.

C.S. Lewis defined love this way. He said: “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”

Crystal Sprague has the above quote on her blog. It is the definition of love to which she subscribes, and the one she lives by. She was kind enough to do an interview with COH and her answers are profound with wisdom and yet accessible with practicality. Anyone thinking of entering the social work field will learn much from her work in Cebu, Philippines as the Clinical Director of My Refuge House, a safe house and aftercare facility for the victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.




My Refuge House’s statement of purpose is a “dedication to alleviating the effects of abuse and trauma sustained by the victims of sex-trafficking”. After a girl is rescued she must be convinced she is safe, that she is outside the reach of the evil that enslaved her. You have said that it’s through “repetition” that MRH achieves this. Practically, what does that look like?

Beliefs, especially the ones that we live by but never take the time to analyze, are very hard to change. They affect the way we think, act and feel. Girls come to us believing many things: that they are worthless, that they are unsafe, that no one will ever love them or care about them again. Changing those beliefs requires dedicated people who can consistently see when a person is acting upon a false belief and address it with truth, over and over again. It takes time, dedication, patience, wisdom and repetition.

A practical example of this is if a girl yells at one of the staff because she feels threatened or unsafe, the staff will take the time to help the girl realize what she is feeling and why she reacted the way she did. The staff is trained to recognize this situation as a trauma induced reaction rather than a personal attack. After this process occurs enough times, the girl should be able to recognize the threatening or unsafe feeling before she reacts so that she can learn to react differently the next time.

Is this the most difficult part of the rehabilitation process?

That depends on the person; however, trauma induced reactions are instinctual and rarely premeditated, so recognizing and changing them is very hard work. That is the reason appropriate education and training is necessary for anyone who works with victims of abuse.

You stress “that relationship-building is crucial to the healing environment”. That implies a deep investment of yourself into hurting girls. How hard is it not to stay broken-hearted, or become callous, or not just take justice into your own hands?

I don’t think it’s possible to work with victims of abuse and not develop “tough skin.” I couldn’t survive if I was broken-hearted all of the time. Nor could I do my job effectively. Relationships are crucial, but they also have to be professional, and as a professional you have to know your limits. I must recognize when I need a break, and actively seek out activities to rejuvenate myself. I will not be helpful to anyone if I don’t know how to take care of myself.

At the same time, I have to know when to show compassion, and when to set appropriate expectations. Both are critical parts of relationship-building. The girls have to be able to trust that I will follow through with the reasonable expectations I set, just as much as they have to trust that I will be there to listen.

On your blog there is that C.S Lewis quote. How is it that you have avoided the “entanglements”, that is the tendency of humanity to inoculate ourselves against the suffering of others by wrapping our hearts in those “little luxuries”?

Lewis, in this quote from his book “The Four Loves” expresses the complete abandon that is required to love well. To love in such a way that you remain vulnerable also means opening yourself up to being hurt. And if you love this way, it is likely that you will get hurt. It’s incredibly hard to remain vulnerable in relationships, and completely counter to human nature.

Working with broken people is harder still. It creates a whole new meaning to loving well. You sometimes find yourself loving people who have never seen what real love looks like, or who are convinced that they are unworthy of love. Sometimes when people are hurting, they lash out and hurt others, whether they desire to or not. These reactions can be a means of protection or a method of testing sincerity in the other person. So there is a constant need to actively remind yourself, as a caregiver, how sincere, empowering love looks.

The reason I love this quote is because it doesn’t hide the fact that selfless, merciful love for others is dangerous, but also acknowledges that avoiding the entanglements of relationships will lead to something much worse – a false feeling of safety as redemption fades away.

To answer your question, I would say that the distractions of little luxuries are something I’ve always been keenly aware of. Like most people, I am selfish and sometimes desire to fill my life with meaningless and trivial things. But I’ve always been drawn to positions where I’ve been given the chance to love broken people, and other times I find it harder to distract myself from my work than to fall into the temptation of distraction by “little luxuries.”

I believe that Christ calls us to love in a way that is fairly radical and once we experience it, it’s addicting. That said, it’s also important to take time to recover from the stresses of working with traumatized people. When faced with emotionally draining situations, I force myself to take time to just enjoy life.

Cebu is a tropical paradise full of every sort of "entanglement" you can dream of and.....

....a nightmare of poverty and exploitation where young girls are bound in brothels.

COH has found that the stories of the individual tragedies of one victim are more affecting, more inspiring than faceless statistics. Is there one girl’s tragedy that stands out from your time in the anti-slavery movement?

Becky’s* story, a hopeful tragedy, is a mixture of coercion, naivety and deception, that ends with hope and restoration.

When Becky was 14 years old, two of her neighbors told her they had a job for her as a dancer. They took her to a restaurant where she met a foreign man. She was led to believe that she would leave right after she finished eating but was given a glass of juice with a drug in it that made her lose consciousness. When she woke up, she found herself naked with the foreign man on top of her. Petrified from the incident, she felt nothing but shame and worthlessness. She lacked the ability to reason and was soon convinced to continue working in the sex establishment.

While working there, she went to the city health office to process her health card. Becky says she was led into a room, and a doctor came in and forced her to have sex with him in exchange for her city health card. The doctor then brought her to a hotel where another man was waiting for her inside the room. The two men took turns raping Becky. This incident finally drove her to seek help and escape from the bar, but left her traumatized and scared.

When Becky came to MRH she was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She couldn’t sleep at night because she had vivid nightmares and tried to run away on multiple occasions. She hated being looked at and would often erupt in anger if she thought someone was staring at her. Even though Becky agreed to come to MRH, she desperately wanted to go home to her father. Unfortunately, Becky’s traffickers lived next door to her father’s house, and he was scared for her safety after filing a case against them. Their home was no longer a safe place.

During Becky’s stay at MRH she made amazing improvements. She no longer got upset when she thought someone was looking at her. Her nightmares subsided and she was able to sleep easier. Although she still has extreme displays of emotion, the MRH staff learned how to support her during those times and the outbursts lessened considerably. A sponsor from a partner organization has agreed to buy Becky’s father a new home so he can move to a safer place and she can eventually join him again.

What about MRH’s greatest success story?

Each person’s success is worth celebrating, so it is hard to place one higher than another. However, here is one that is great:

Anna* is from a hard working family in a district outside of Cebu. Both of her parents are farmers and she is the oldest of five siblings. Anna was sexually abused by her uncle continually from the time she was 11 years old until she was 14. When Anna finally told her mother about it, they filed a case against her uncle. Determined to seek justice, but fearing for Anna’s safety, her mother sought a place where Anna could live while the court case was ongoing.

Anna came to MRH when she was 14 years old. Here are some words she wrote in an activity at the center:

“The hope or dream for my life is to finish my studies and someday… to become a computer science [major] or teacher. The best dream of my life is to win my case so that I can study my lessons without thinking [of any other] problems.”

Anna was very determined to finish school, but obviously was also traumatized by her past. She was naturally quiet, and sometimes unable to express what was going on in her thoughts. While at MRH, she made significant progress in her legal case, as well as her personal life. She also improved in her ability to be honest and open with the staff and herself. In fact, when asked what she learned at MRH she said “I have learned how to share about the good things and the bad things that people do and what God wants us to be.”

Anna graduated from the program at MRH after one year and was transferred to a long term shelter that was able to assist her in pursuing her educational goals.

On your very first blog post you were patiently waiting to hear about a position with International Justice Mission in Cebu. Are you surprised at where you are now?

I am sort of surprised. This dream has been in my heart since I was a teenager, and I’ve believed for a long time that the deepest dreams that we have, the ones that never falter regardless of the situations we find ourselves in, are usually put there by God. And if that is the case, God will do whatever it takes to fulfill those dreams. I’ve worked hard to get here and God has amazed me with the ways he’s orchestrated the rest. I’m learning to be less and less surprised when He does.

Outside of the good book, any heroes?

Martin Luther King Jr. said: “The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice,” and he lived to align principles of justice with the realities of life around him. MLK had one extreme goal in mind: the end of racism. In order to attain that goal, he used many unique, often controversial strategies. His dream was extreme and his methods were revolutionary, and that translated directly into radical changes for the people living in the United States.

Right now, our world is faced with another extreme goal. It will take the same dedication, creativity and fervor that MLK displayed to accomplish the eradication of slavery around the world.

There are a lot of young people wanting to enter the anti-slavery movement. What can you tell them? How did you prepare yourself to join the fight?

There are two primary ways someone can be involved in this fight: The first is educating the public and advocating for the enslaved. The second is direct involvement, which should be done hand in hand with local people who live in the country where the injustice is happening. Both are extremely necessary and cannot be accomplished effectively without each other.

In most places where these atrocities happen, there is a lack of skills, education and resources necessary to create sustainable change. My advice for someone who wants to be directly involved is to educate yourself in a skill that is needed in the place you intend to make a difference. I chose to study Social work. Other helpful skills include law, public policy, counseling, business (to create sustainable jobs for former victims) and education.

Personally I believe that national staff - who understand the culture, speak the language fluently, and are dedicated to seeing their country change in long term ways - are critical to the fight. One of the most important jobs for westerners is to support national staff by training them with the resources that are more readily available in developed nations.




Is there one book you would recommend to those seeking a career in anti-trafficking?

Gary Haugen’s book, Terrify No More, is the book that inspired a small group of people in Southern California to actively do something about the issue of trafficking. After reading it, the congregation of New Heart Community Church opened My Refuge House. For those who haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it.

Who are those most at risk in and around Cebu and what can realistically be done to get them out of harm’s way?

Educating local communities about the realities of trafficking and women’s legal rights is one way to realistically prevent trafficking. Those who have not been educated about the risks of coercion and trafficking that occur on a regular basis are much more susceptible than those who have. Educating communities about ways to intervene, about what trafficking looks like, about how to spot suspicious situations, and how to appropriately intervene are realistic tools for protecting the vulnerable in the community.



MRH is in the process of building a new facility (artist rendering above). How important is this to work they do in Cebu? How can people support MRH and the building project?

My Refuge House came to Cebu to fill a gap in the rehabilitation process for victims of trafficking. Our new facility is vital. Although MRH has been serving clients since 2008, our capacity to do so has been limited by our temporary facilities. The new facility will give us the capacity to house 30 girls for our short term program. It will also give us the ability to house 12 participants through high school who have graduated from our program but don’t have a safe home to return to. It will increase our capacity to serve girls by more than 3 times.

Our new facilities were designed with the unique needs of trafficking victims in mind. Our property and developments on our property will be created to facilitate the refuge our participants need to feel safe. The area will be equipped with a prayer garden, a function hall, and plenty of room for facilitating growth and healing. It will give us adequate space to have classes, group and individual counseling sessions, and physical activities. In addition, instead of one large home, five small homes will be built to incorporate a therapeutic family style environment instead of an institutionalized one.

If you wish to learn more about My Refuge House please visit us here for more information. If you wish to donate to the building project or operational funds please go here for more information. All gifts are tax deductible and every penny will be used to facilitate a healing environment for former victims.

How fluent are you in in Cebuano?

Cebuano is something I’m still working on, but I can converse fairly well. Most of my language acquisition was informal, from conversation or direct interaction, so I’m very hesitant to speak in any kind of formal setting. It is great for building relationships. Because the United States occupied the Philippines for a number of years before World War II, English is widely spoken. For a lot of people this deters language-learning, but I’m happy to say mine is improving daily.

What are the Cebuano words for freedom and justice?

Kagawasan is Freedom and Hustisya is Justice.

What about the words for “Conspiracy Of Hope”?

Pagkonsabo sa Paglaum: Conspiracy of Hope.

Anything you would like to add?

Thank you to all who support the work of My Refuge House and other similar work. Sustainable change can only happen when there are enough people standing up and supporting an issue, so don’t ever underestimate your influence or importance.

*(The names in Crystal's stories have been changed to protect client confidentiality)

So on this Valentine's day, let us open our hearts anew to the girls of Cebu and to all the other children around the world forced into slavery. Let's join with My Refuge House as they restore broken hearts as well as broken lives. And may our hearts be broken by the senseless tragedy of sex-trafficking and may our love remain fiercely resolved and tirelessly committed to justice. May it cost us something.

Thank you for joining our Pagkonsabo sa Paglaum. Oh, and Happy Valentines Day.

The Punishment That Fits.

The punishment should fit the crime. It's a basic tenet of our jurisprudence. A checks and balance to keep judges from allowing personal vendettas or prejudices from influencing sentencing. Nobody wants to get a ticket for going 70 in a 55 and end up doing life in maximum security. But what about the other side of that coin, what about the victims of crimes? Is justice served when rapists and violent oppressors walk with only a slap on the wrist? The following stories are from recent weeks here in the USA. Not some thimble-sized third world country with a deranged Despot and a corrupt fourth-rate legal system. These are the headlines from the Land of the Free and the Brave. The punishment should fit the crime.

Dmarcus Antwain Ward, 26, of Louisiana, was sentenced Monday on sex trafficking charges after investigators said he took juveniles to Alabama and back to Georgia, advertising them on the Internet for commercial sex acts. Investigators said Ward transported a 17-year-old girl for prostitution from Atlanta to Birmingham and back again. Ward, who had posted photos of the teen on the Internet, took all the money she earned within that 10-day period, according to the U. S. Attorney's Office.

Ward also forced a 14-year-old runaway into prostitution after meeting her on a toll-free “chat line” and coercing her to go to Alabama with him. Ward posted advertisements of the teen on the Internet and rented hotel and motel rooms in Tucker and Marietta for prostitution. He watched the teen closely, and only left the room when the customers arrived. The 14-year-old gave all her money to Ward, who also had sex with her.

Ward plead guilty to the charges in September. A judge sentenced him to seven years and nine months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release. The judge also ordered Mr. Ward to pay restitution to the victims in the amount of $2,600.

Dear States of Louisiana and Georgia, the punishment should fit the crime.

Twin brothers, Tyrelle and Myrelle Lockett, 18, from outside Chicago pled guilty Tuesday to felony charges of human trafficking for forced labor or services after an undercover sting operation found that they forced young women, including one underage victim, to perform sex acts with men for money. The brothers' would make motel reservations and take photos of the girls for Internet ads they created and posted. Once the meetings with clients were set, the victims would enter motel rooms to have sex with the men while the defendants waited nearby to collect payment. The 17- and 18-year-old victims, who were not charged, told police that the brothers beat them and threatened them if they didn't perform the sex acts.



The brothers were sentenced to four years in prison for forcing the young women into prostitution. The sentencing was handed down by Judge Frank Zelezinski.

Dear Mr. Zelezinki, the punishment should fit the crime!

QUEENS, NEW YORK (from: BNO NEWS) A New York man Woodley Gaston, 25, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and other charges for prostituting three young women in January. Gaston was first charged in 2007 with advancing and profiting from the prostitution of a 16-year-old girl and in 2008, Gaston was charged again with forcing a second girl of the same age into prostitution. Two years later, the defendant was accused of prostituting an 18-year-old girl to repay a debt; his third offense.

In the first case, Gaston forced the then 17-year-old victim into a vehicle by threatening to beat her up and then forced her into prostitution. He posted sexually explicit photographs of the girl on Craigslist to attract customers and forced her to perform various sexual acts for money. The girl was also directed to perform sex acts with his landlord as a means of rent payment of his Queens home. His second victim was a 16-year-old girl who he befriended buying her clothes and paying for her to get her nails and hair done. After that, Gaston forced her to work for him as a prostitute, again advertising her on Craigslist.

In his guilty plea, Gaston admitted two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of second-degree promoting prostitution, two counts of third-degree promoting prostitution and two counts of third-degree rape. “This defendant preyed on troubled and needy teenage girls, using them for his sexual gratification and then as a commodity to be sold to others for cash which he then pocketed for himself,” said Queens County District Attorney Richard Brown.

On Monday Gaston was sentenced by Queens Supreme Court Judge Barry Kron to 3 years in prison on sex trafficking charges. Dear District Attorney Brown and Judge Kron, THE PUNISHMENT SHOULD FIT THE CRIME!!!

The miscarriages of justice that are represented above are only a microcosm of a much bigger tragedy involving the lack of justice for the victims of Human Trafficking. While criminals have no fear of the Law, or if meager sentences make the rewards worth their risk, we will never see an end to the evil of trafficking within our borders.

Dear America, the punishment must fit the crime.

There is good news, International Justice Mission continues to stem the tide of injustice internationally by working tirelessly to see the law enforced. Around the world, IJM lawyers are making a simple message clear: If you abuse defenseless girls and women, you will go to jail. In the past week alone, five more violent criminals have been convicted as a result of IJM casework:

La Paz, Bolivia - Feb 8: A man is sentenced to 20 years in jail for sexual abuse of his daughter.

Cebu, the Philippines - Feb 7: Two pimps are sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking.

Nairobi, Kenya - Feb 7: A man is sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping a young girl in his church.

Guatemala City, Guatemala - Feb 3: A rapist who assaulted a 13-year-old girl is sentenced to eight years in prison.

This week’s major convictions are a result of years of effort and the brave testimony of the girls and women IJM serves. But these convictions must also inspire us to fight for tougher sentences here in the US. As Gary Haugen, IJM's President and founder often reminds us, criminals are cowards, that is why they pray on the defenseless and the weak.

Criminals will back down, they will go away, they will stop trafficking young girls...If the punishment fits.

Interview With IJM's President Gary Haugen

Today there are close to 30 million people living in slavery. Almost half of them are under the age of 18. That’s more than at any other time in the history of civilization. During the height of the American slave trade the average cost of a slave, adjusted for today’s inflation, was 40 thousand dollars. The average cost of a slave today is only 50 dollars. People have become disposable. It’s no longer smart “business” to give medical attention to a hurt or sick slave. The savvy slave owner just disposes of them and buys or kidnaps another. This is 2011. People’s lives should not be judged by their fiscal viability. But this is going on around the world right now, every two seconds a person is trafficked, that is, bought or sold into slavery. This crime of crimes, and yet so few voices crying out for justice; so few heroes risking their lives to abolish slavery. Where are the Harriet Tubmans of our generation? Where are the Harriet Beecher Stowes, the Sojourner Truths, the William Wilberforces, the Fredrick Douglasses?

Gary Haugen is one such modern day abolitionist, who not only cries out for justice, but fights for it. Whether it’s undercover investigating in a brothel putting together an airtight case for trial, or the subsequent raid to free underage girls from the tyranny of sexual perversion, Gary and his International Justice Mission team battle the evil of injustice with relentless passion and unwavering conviction. And although we're sure he would take exception to his name being placed alongside such great names of the anti-slavery movement, it’s important that there be a new batch of heroes for the younger generation to emulate, living, breathing heroes that can inspire us all as we battle a new generation of slave owners and traffickers hell-bent on gain by any means and power at any cost.





Conspiracy Of Hope had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Haugen and we found his answers tempered with deep wisdom, the kind that can only come from years in the field, and countless hours of deep reflection. We hope the intensity of his words and the conviction of his answers inspire you the same way they did us.

Many abolitionists have said they experienced a “call”. How did you come to the anti-slavery movement?

As a little boy, I came across a huge book in the public library about Abe Lincoln and found myself utterly enthralled with the horrific story of slavery in the United States. Lincoln described it as a great offence against God – and as a simple second grader looking at 19th century photos of scars across the back of a slave, that description seemed right to me. Then, thirty years later, Christian friends working amongst the poor overseas showed me pictures of a boy in leg irons in India and described brothels in the Philippines where young girls were held as sex slaves. I’d been raised with the simple command of Jesus to “do unto others ….” So, with these very personal images from my friends of very real slavery in our world today, the rest seemed quite straightforward.

Is there one particular historical or current abolitionist that you consider a hero?

Saju Matthew is a hero to me. He was born into a home of humble means in India – but miraculously ended up graduating from an Ivy League school and became an elite lawyer in America who never lost a case. Eventually, he felt God wanted to do something greater with it all. So now Saju and his wife and five children have all returned to India, where he leads IJM’s struggle against slavery in southern India. His team of fellow Indians has embarked on the most significant, direct confrontation with slavery in 150 years – and despite the violence and corruption, I don’t have any doubt that their grandkids are going to grow up reading in their history books about the generation that eliminated slavery from India’s soil.

As a member of the UN’s Center For Human Rights you were in charge of the horrific task of gathering evidence against the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide. This included the exhumation of mass graves of tortured victims. How do you keep from becoming desensitized to suffering?

By relentless focus on the humanity, beauty and infinite dignity of the individual person. Despite the massive scale of human tragedy, the truth is, human beings suffer, hurt and die one at a time. This is what the Maker sees and never loses sight of. So I seek to his vision and view of the individual. But in the midst of dark evil and human suffering, I also must intentionally and vigorously seek out refreshment in beauty, light, joy and laughter. Joy is the oxygen that sustains service over the long haul and keeps us from hardening our hearts against the pain of our own compassion.



Above, Gary revisits a massacre site in Rwanda.

What has been the lowest point in your fight against slavery?

The lowest point was at the beginning, when we got started in the mid-nineties. Very few had even heard of contemporary slavery. The term “trafficking” had barely been invented. And those who knew anything about it were pretty sure there was nothing that could be done about it. As Nelson Mandela once said, “It looks impossible until it’s done.” The hardest nowadays may be when a child rescued from a brothel is in a nice aftercare home but nevertheless perishes from AIDS contracted in the brothel. I don’t have a good quote for that.




What about your greatest day?

There have been a lot of great days. I will never forget meeting the girls that we rescued from brothels in Cambodia when they were 6, 7, 8 years old and seeing them as thriving, healthy teenagers in school 5 years later. Or just a day spent watching the expertise, courage and mastery of our indigenous staff as they lead the fight against slavery in their own community. That’s a pretty great day because the future of the fight is so well secured.

Is there one story that stands out from your years of fighting slavery?

Kunthy or Kumar’s stories both stand out- they’re both in the 10th Anniversary Edition of Good News About Injustice. (Kumar’s is on p. 143; Kunthy’s is on page 180)




There are an estimated 35 million orphans in India alone, with 18 million of those being homeless, what can realistically be done to get them out of the reach of traffickers?

The most important thing we can do, I believe, is make traffickers afraid of going to jail. We know the traffickers – and they are not brave. They only abduct and sell kids because they (and their buyers) think they can get away with it. If they think they’ll go to jail, they leave the kids alone and find something else to do. And it’s not that hard, because if the customers can find the trafficking victims (and they do), then so can the police. So when the police and justice authorities start protecting the kids – the fight is pretty much over.

Is there a ground zero for modern slavery?

There are a few, but I’d rather not alert the opposition at this point. I would, however, mention a place that I think is one of the ground zeroes in the fight against slavery – and that is Cebu, the Philippines. The Gates Foundation helped IJM establish a pilot project in this city to see if IJM could help local law enforcement actually reduce the victimization of children in sex slavery by objectively measurable amounts. And indeed, at the mid-term assessment of the project, outside auditors found a 70% reduction from the initial survey of the victimization of children in the commercial sex trade. This is huge – and we think the impact of the project will only be strengthened. The success of this project is bringing great hope to an issue where so many have been paralyzed by despair.

Justice seems to be at the core of your Christian faith. Do you think there exists a discontinuity between faith communities and their commitment to justice?

For a variety of reasons, there are some dysfunctions in our churches that insist on trying to put the commands of Christ – to love God and love your neighbor – in opposition to each other. Of course, what Jesus and his disciples have been teaching for 2,000 years is that we can’t do one the way we ought without the other – and we have really had to work hard over the last hundred years in contriving a teaching that would separate out the two. Indeed, Jesus put faith and justice together in Matthew 23:23 by calling them “the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith.” Fortunately, I think this newer generation sees that separating love of God and love of man is ridiculous for the follower of Jesus.

IJM is very careful about not leaving a western cultural imprint on the rescued victims of slavery. How important is this for them in the reintegration process?

This is a no-brainer for us. The victims of brutal injustice that we serve are being re-integrated back into their own communities; they are not being transported to some foreign or western context. And our teams are exceedingly well positioned for this task because almost all of the IJM staff in the field are non-westerners who are simply serving their neighbors in their own community. Our indigenous staff own the mission, innovate the path, and make the commitment required to restore our clients to wholeness in their community.



Trailer for IJM's documentary At The End Of Slavery narrated by Danny Glover.

In the anti-slavery movement, is there presently an inordinate need for certain types of professionals?

What I see is that a lot of people know how to educate, teach and campaign about slavery – but very few people know how to practically go to where the slaves are, to get them out of slavery, provide a safe place of healing for them, and then see the perpetrators actually brought to justice. There is, therefore, a great need, I think, for public justice professionals (criminal investigators and lawyers) and social workers who can work in the world’s poorest communities to bring direct rescue and restoration to slaves, and then work with local authorities to actually send the criminals to jail. There is also a great need for community mobilizers in these indigenous communities where slavery is tolerated to change the local political will to do something about it.

If someone was only going to read one book on modern slavery, which one should it be?

Exodus in the Hebrew Scriptures, and then Disposable People by Kevin Bales

There are a lot of young people wanting to enter the anti-slavery movement. What is the most important thing they can do to prepare themselves?

Be humble, patient learners – about love, from God. The struggle against the aggressive, resilient evil of slavery is far too difficult to be sustainable without the deeper transformation of the interior to a place of deep compassion, courage and commitment. The slave masters and traffickers know that the "do-gooders" show up late and quit early, and they’re not intimidated. What they do not have an answer for, however, is fearless sacrificial love that does not go away.

For more from International Justice Mission’s president and CEO visit IJM.org.

Relentless.

Tomorrow I will address a group of students in a human rights class about human trafficking and specifically what can be done locally to combat this evil globally. One concern the professor expressed was a growing frustration among some of the students, it seems they are somewhat overwhelmed by the hugeness of the problem and a bit disheartened as to how they can do anything of any significance to stop it.

Recently I had a chance to interview IJM's Gary Haugen. As a member of the UN’s Center For Human Rights Haugen was charged with the horrific task of gathering evidence against the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide. This included the exhumation of mass graves of tortured victims. I asked Gary how he kept from becoming desensitized to suffering?

"By relentless focus on the humanity, beauty and infinite dignity of the individual person."

I believe his answer also speaks to the helpless impotency those students and many other activists feel at times. But if we can somehow turn that answer into a lens to see this crisis through, we might once again find ourselves encouraged, emboldened, and enlivened to the cause of freedom.

For the rest of his answer to this question and for the rest of our interview with Mr. Haugen stay tuned!!! And as always...From all of us at COH...Thank you for being a voice for the voiceless.