Faith-based groups urged to do more in fight against human trafficking

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Carol Palmer, has called on faith-based and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to adopt a more structured and coordinated approach in responding to trafficking in persons.
Palmer, who is also Chair of the National Task Force against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP), said the organizations can give support to Government efforts by providing shelter for victims, helping raise awareness, operating hotlines and referral centres and maintaining vigilance within communities.
She was addressing a church service to kickstart activities for Trafficking in Persons Week, which runs from July 22 to 28.
“The faith-based community must step forward with the resources that it has at its disposal – financial, material and human – to provide strategic leadership to Jamaica’s national campaign against human trafficking,” Palmer said.
She pointed out that NATFATIP was looking for partners who will take the anti-trafficking message “into the nooks and crannies of Jamaica; highways and byways; street corners and living rooms and boardrooms”.
“There can be no stronger partner than an institution that has a building in every corner in the country,” Palmer said.
Trafficking in Persons Week is being observed under the theme ‘From Victim to Survivor: The Hard Road to Recovery’. The highlight of the week’s activities will be a two-day Human Trafficking International Conference which starts Wednesday.