We're getting behind the UN's Global Day Against Trafficking in Persons, on Sunday 30 July, to help raise awareness of this global plight.
In New Zealand alone, it's estimated that there are now 8000 victims of modern day slavery. We are a destination country, and evidence shows that victims are commonly coerced into forced labour. Under the guise of immigration, people have been trafficked into the agriculture, fishing, construction, and hospitality industries. They are often stripped of their passports, forced to work long hours for little or no pay, and kept in appalling conditions.
Share the resources below on your social media, and at your church service on Sunday morning. Let's join together in prayer:
Dear Lord, You demand justice for Your children who have been wronged.
Give strength to people who investigate and prosecute traffickers.
Encourage them when they are weary.
Give courage to survivors when they are asked to testify against their former captors.
Let Your justice prevail.
Dear Lord, most of us reading this will never experience the kind of extreme poverty that millions of people live with every day.
Help us to be understanding and compassionate toward their needs.
Help us to love them in the way that You love them with the resources and abilities You’ve given to each of us.
Help us to support people who are left newly impoverished because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Give us the will to make things better and the opportunity to act.
*Prayers written by World Vision
Find out more about Global Day Against Trafficking in Persons