Association of Evangelicals in Africa

CONCERNS AND OPEN FORUM ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CANADA

May 25th to June 1st was a special time for Commission on Women’s Concerns (women’s commission of the World Evangelical Alliance-WEA). All the continental leaders came together to deliberate over the way God was helping each continent to see women play their rightful role in fulfilling the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. It was exciting to hear the stories from around the world – truly God is at work! The meeting was held at the Evangel Pentecostal Church (EPC) in Oakland, Toronto Canada and how graciously members of the assembly hosted the Commission – from the senior Pastor to many of the congregants. It was refreshing to see the love of God in action. The meeting was enriched by a seminar on fundraising given on one of the days. On the last day of the meeting, CWC together with the EPC hosted an open forum on human trafficking, an issue that WEA is championing against. The program exposed those who attended to what trafficking is, in its insidious nature, its estimated magnitude, global policies and protocols that are helping governments address it. Dr. Emily Obwaka presented a paper on Human Trafficking from an African Perspective showing how although this was an immense and very pervasive problem in Africa, few governments were doing very much about it. Africa is particularly vulnerable to human trafficking because of the issues of ignorance, poverty, migration, conflict at national and domestic levels leading to broken homes and porous borders and certain cultural norms. Weak political on the part of many African governments leads to low allocation of the needed resources and building capacity to fight the vice effectively. Where some effort is going on, corruption hugely impedes these efforts to fight it especially in the identification and prosecution of perpetrators. The church needs to play a greater role in the prevention of human trafficking, protection and rehabilitation of victims by preaching, teaching and living the only hope that is real and remains for traffickers and victims – Jesus Christ, who is able to redeem and restore (Luke 4:18-19).

- Report by PACWA Executive Secretary, Dr. Emily Obwaka