VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 5/24/10)—On May 3-4, 2010, 23 American Baptist women, including one youth, traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with legislators to advocate for stronger laws and protections around the issue of human trafficking. The event was organized by Peggy Burke, national Mission & Service Ministries coordinator for American Baptist Women’s Ministries and member of Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, Columbus, Ohio.
During the event, participants met with Curtis Ramsey-Lucas, managing director of resource development, American Baptist Home Missionary Societies (ABHMS), and national coordinator, public and social advocacy, in ABHMS Office of Governmental Relations; Lauren Armstrong, National Human Trafficking Resource Center program specialist with the Polaris Project; Patricia Burkhardt, legislative officer with Church Women United's Washington office; and Holly Hollman, General Counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
Ramsey-Lucas provided an overview of work that ABHMS has been doing around issues of human trafficking. Armstrong (Polaris Project) led a workshop about human trafficking, including international (UN protocol) and federal (TVPA Law passed in 2000), and on leading discussion on how participants can further advocacy at home.
Burkhardt (CWU) shared information about the status of pending legislation, Senate bill .2925: Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2009. This legislation provides crucial funding to develop and enhance comprehensive, collaborative efforts to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the U.S. Additionally, Burkhardt described House resolution 929: Recognizing December 2 as the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery and the 60th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, and commending the efforts of modern-day abolitionists following in the tradition of Frederick Douglass.
On the final day of the event, Hollman (Baptist Joint Committee) provided a workshop on lobbying a member of Congress to prepare participants to meet with their legislators. Most of the participants then had meetings with their Senators or House representatives and plan to follow up in the months ahead.
“Having an opportunity to meet with my state senator and be on Capitol Hill with AB Women was truly an incredible experience. I believe it is important for people of faith and government to work together on issues like human trafficking. Such collaboration can serve to protect victims and break the chains of modern day slavery,” said Barbara Anderson of Massachusetts, national president of American Baptist Women’s Ministries.
“With this unique event AB Women’s Ministries has provided yet another opportunity for women and girls to engage in important front line work to abolish the trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation in this country and around the world," said Virginia Holmstrom, executive director of American Baptist Women’s Ministries. "Those who gathered in D.C. are women determined to go beyond reading, fundraising, and praying; they set their sights on Capitol Hill and spoke out with a voice for the voiceless—an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 persons that are trafficked and sold each year."
In 2007, AB Women’s Ministries launched “Break the Chains: Slavery in the 21st Century,” an initiative and fundraising project targeting sex trafficking, and raised $470,000 for grants to 20 new ministries working with at-risk and exploited women and children in the U.S./Puerto Rico and other countries. For more information, visit www.abwmbreakthechains.org.
American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with 5,500 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.