Safeguard is one of two main areas that Men Ending Trafficking has been focused on over the past few years. It is a difficult program to run at times, we need to gather adequate teams of volunteers, screen them carefully, train and prepare them ahead of time, and commit to being on site and ready to serve for often unknown periods of time because of the complications inherent in our criminal justice system. It can be tough on our volunteers and on us.
So why do we do it? The simple answer is: the need. There is a need for us to step out in this way, and in that need there is opportunity as well.
The Need: Going to court can be an intimidating process. It’s an unfamiliar place, you’re obligated to be there, you have no control over the schedule, and if you have to testify that means telling an uncomfortable truth that will be questioned and picked apart under cross examination.
When it comes to human trafficking trials, that intimidation is exponentially larger. Combine the above with years of emotional, and often physical, trauma, fear of retaliation, and the common feelings of revictimization experienced by victims of sexual exploitation who testify in court.
Most victim-witnesses asked to testify feel inadequately equipped to handle the emotional and psychological burden, many fear for their personal safety. Not surprising when you consider that 72% of human trafficking victims are under the age of 25; and many of them do not have adequate support networks through family and friends.
This is the need that MET seeks to meet. We offer spiritual and moral support, while also providing a physical barrier against intimidation and a visible deterrent to threats. It is one place we have decided to take a stand against the atrocity that is human trafficking.
The Opportunity:
Along with the support provided to victim-witnesses, through our safeguard program, comes a unique opportunity. The opportunity is for good men, who are often sidelined in the fight against human trafficking, to get involved in a practical way.
We feel that it is important for men to stand alongside women, to publicly oppose the evils of trafficking girls into the sex industry; but because it is largely seen as a women’s issue there is little opportunity for practical involvement. This is why we have made it part of our focus to get men off of the sidelines and into the fight for the girls and women of our communities that are being exploited.
The fact that the root of this evil is the greed and lust of evil men, it is all the more important for the good men of the church and local communities to fight the oppression of slavery and exploitation, get involved in this fight in any way they can, and publicly declare we will tolerate this no longer.