The Salvation Army International Development (UK) is pioneering a new project aimed at combating human trafficking through the development of community based initiatives in China. The program will reach a total of ten communities (five urban and five rural) directly impacting a minimum of 3,500 individuals and indirectly impacting possibly four times this number. This response to the problem of trafficking is an innovative, action-oriented process through which communities identify and develop strategies to address health and social concerns.
The community counselling approach which The Salvation Army has successfully utilized throughout the world is based on an absolute conviction that communities have the answers to their own issues. Community members will be empowered to develop their own strategies for addressing and implementing a response and, as a result, the community will have the ability to sustain its own strategies.
topAbout the Country
In China, as in many other Asian countries, Chinese women and girls fall victim to traffickers who transport them abroad for sexual exploitation. The sale of children and women is rampant in China, where a stringent 'one child' policy has bolstered a traditional bias for male offspring. Significant numbers of Chinese women and children are trafficked internally for forced marriage and forced labour. Women living in rural areas disappeared while seeking lucrative ‘jobs’ in cities, a move driven by poverty. But their lack of education and naivety from living sheltered lives made them easy prey for criminal elements.
In turn this has led to a serious imbalance in the rural male-female sex ratio at birth, as the women have sought city employment, and the cost of traditional betrothal gifts all made purchasing a bride attractive to some poor rural families.
Although the Chinese government says it is strongly opposed to human trafficking and has made it illegal, much more needs to be done to prevent trafficking and protect its victims. Vulnerable people in China, especially women and children, should be educated that promises of work abroad can be traps. The Chinese government in partnership with the International Labour Organization has taken some steps to prevent forced labour in nine Chinese provinces. The Chinese government has also conducted some anti-trafficking training for law enforcement officials. But much more remains to be done.
topExplanation of the Project
The project aims to protect and enhance the human rights of persons who have been, or who are in danger of becoming, enslaved through human trafficking in ten communities in China. For the purpose of this program, “human rights” specifically means that individuals are not subjected to coercion, violence, and deception as methods to create an enslaved condition. This general objective consists of three parts:
1 Education and Awareness:
Promotion of general public awareness of human trafficking as a human rights concern within the ten participating communities as a means of prevention and protection.
2 Community Priorities:
Creating functioning, sustainable community management structures that can produce a meaningful and sustained reduction in human trafficking in the communities served.
3 Care and Support for Victims:
The participating communities will provide basic care and support for victims of human trafficking.
The project aims to bring the community together as a whole in a coordinated way, to make their communities safer for children and adolescents.
topHistory of the Project
The Salvation Army characterizes human trafficking as one of the great evils of the modern world. As a people of faith, we strongly condemn this widespread practice and are determined to do everything in our power to defeat this evil. Human trafficking is a massive violation of human rights and it is an affront to the dignity of each person with its attendant loss of freedom, physical and sexual exploitation, and violence.
The Salvation Army intends, with this program in China, to bring hope to a very dark reality by confronting human trafficking with a community-based initiative known as Community Counselling.
The Salvation Army has a historical commitment in many other continents in the fight against sexual trafficking. Its work in this area began more than 100 years ago when in the 1880s The Salvation Army led extensive campaigns to eradicate the sexual trafficking of women and girls in England. Today, the Salvation Army has initiated comprehensive efforts to promote awareness about the trafficking of persons internationally and is also involved in advocacy for victims and care and intervention initiatives.
topAbout the organisation
As a community based organisation in 111 countries, The Salvation Army has been doing development work for over a hundred years. Our work has the added advantage in that the development projects we are involved with are delivered and managed by the receiving communities, for the benefit of the whole community. It’s done this way because we are the community. There is no middle man or woman. We live in the same communities as the people we are working with. Where there is a need, The Salvation Army as part of that community, wants to help meet that need. We work alongside our neighbours, friends and family and call on our global network to help. We also work inclusively, without discrimination to race, gender, religion or creed. For more information on our development or anti-trafficking work visit our website at www.salvationarmy.org.uk/id.