KENYA: Mission Agents Advised to Act “Now” Against Human Slavery
Members of RSCK during workshop on human trafficking
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Religious men and clerics who serve as mission agents in various Dioceses in Kenya have been asked to prioritize acting against human slavery as an urgent pastoral need in the society so that exploitation of people can stop.
“Now is the time for action against slavery,” Br. Julius Awino the Secretary General of Religious Superiors’ Conference of Kenya (RSCK) emphasized during a one day workshop on human trafficking at Rosa Mystica Spiritual Centre, Nairobi, adding that the success of stopping human exploitation “must involve everyone in the spirit of synodality.”
In his opening remarks on Thursday, March 24, Br. Julius a member of the congregation of Bothers of St. Joseph borrowed Pope Francis’ message on the intent of the Catholic Church on human trafficking saying, “The Catholic Church intends to intervene in every phase of trafficking human beings.”
“The Catholic Church wants to protect them from deception, solicitation; she wants to find them and free them when they are transported and reduced to slavery; she wants to assist them once they are freed,” Br. Julius added Pope Francis message on the Church’s commitment to fight against human trafficking.
Speaking to over 30 clerics and Religious men, Br. Julius note that human trafficking is a crime “happening in our local communities” whose root causes are “Ethical, economic, environmental and political in nature.”
He emphasized that the mission of RSCK that has membership of 75 Religious institutions, is to “sensitize mission agents to have some know- how on how to deal with cases of human trafficking,” so the agents can “disseminate the same information to reach as many people as possible.”
On his part during the opening remarks, Fr. Paul Mung’athia Igweta the Coordinator for Promoting Integral Human Development (PIHD) at Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) emphasized that human trafficking is “a sensitive pastoral concern of the Church in Eastern Africa.”
He disclosed that the Holy Father had earlier asked Bishops to have a structure and pastoral activities for the people in refugees’ camp since there are a number of refugees in various camps in the world.
“In Eastern Africa, Uganda hosts over a million refugees while Kenya host thousands of them,” Fr. Igweta told the members of RSCK and continued, “As a Church we cannot keep aloof when we have so many of our brothers and sisters suffering. This is why we need to voice this very strongly.”
He underscored that the Church can express this concern through various media platforms including social media through preaching and issuing pastoral letters condemning the same.
He appreciated members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) who have emphasized the human trafficking crisis in the 2022 Lenten Campaign saying that, “Human trafficking is a barbaric behavior at this time of history.”
The Bishops in Kenya emphasize in their Lenten booklet under the theme: “Unity in diversity: promoting good neighborliness,” that “young men and women are being trafficked across the sea to work as labourers but end up as slaves.”
They call on Christians to work with the government and anti-human trafficking agencies to ensure that “our youth do not fall prey to this black market business.”
