Over 1,300 churches answered a call to stand up against human trafficking in Norway, raising nearly £2.5 million for the cause in just one day.

Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), which mobilised the churches on March 15, reported record numbers in donations for its one-day, door-to-door Lenten fundraising campaign. After a long night of counting funds, it said the total stood at nearly £2.5 million, a 20 percent increase from the year before.

Over 40,000 members from church congregations spread throughout Norway's cities, towns and villages on Tuesday morning. There was one drive participant for every one hundred people in the nation.

In a well-organised campaign of two hours, one Nordberg congregation gathered nearly double the amount of last year's campaign, according to NCA press officer Laurie MacGregor.

Local representatives united with NCA workers from as far away as Laos to participate in the day's activities.

"This is a fantastic result and one that bears witness to the Norwegian people’s great spirit of charity," declared NCA Secretary General Atle Sommerfeldt. The funds generated will go toward stopping what the secretary called, "modern slavery."

This year's NCA Lenten campaign focused on the issue of human trafficking. It comes at a time where Norway is becoming a destination country for "a small but increasing number of women trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation," according to the U.S. State Department in 2004.

Norway's first ever anti-trafficking prosecution took place in June 2003 under newly amended laws classifying human trafficking as a crime. The widely accepted U.N. definition of human trafficking includes forced labour, sexual exlploitation as well as organ removal.

Women and children are particularly vulnerable. Offers of work and better living conditions to poor people are common ploys used by traffickers to get victims to leave their homes, countries and the safety net of their families.

Once in foreign countries, victims of trafficking are often trapped in slave or slave-like conditions. Fearing that they or their families will be threatened, many are forced to cooperate with their captors. Children are often dependent on traffickers for basic necessities like food and shelter.

One aim of the NCA is to educate potential victims with information campaigns about trafficking. By providing education and opportunities at home, tragedies can be avoided before they happen.

Sommerfeldt pointed out that the March 15 drive will provide more than just preventative action.

"We also give support to those that have already been sold, and give them the opportunity to start a new life. With the funds collected during this year's Lenten Campaign, this work will be strengthened considerably," he stated.

Human trafficking is a worldwide bane that victimises mostly women and children. Statistics about the actual number of people trafficked per year are unreliable for various reasons.

Rough estimates, however, suggest that roughly 700,000 to 2 million women are trafficked across international borders. Domestic trafficking could possibly bring the total to 4 million persons per year, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).





Francis Helguero
Ecumenical Press