LWI 2008-052 FIFA 2010 World Cup: South African Churches Warn About Human Trafficking

[LWFNews]

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION  
LWI News online: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 


FIFA 2010 World Cup: South African Churches Warn About Human Trafficking 
Faith Communities Collaborate to Develop Common Strategy

MEXICO CITY, Mexico/GENEVA, 15 August 2008 (LWI) - A South African Lutheran church leader says human trafficking is one of the greatest challenges for local churches with regard to the 19th International Federation of Association Football (FIFA - French acronym) World Cup, to be hosted by South Africa in June-July 2010. 

Speaking at the 17th International AIDS Conference held in Mexico City, 3 - 8 August, Bishop Joe Ramashapa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa (ELCSA) indicated that South African churches were already preparing themselves to deal with the issue of human trafficking. He said ELCSA intends to work intensively on awareness-building in congregations, particularly with regard to so-called "passive human trafficking." 

He said FIFA was promoting the event by claiming the World Cup would benefit the entire African continent economically, and went on to explain the passive involvement. "Then [a] mother tells [her] daughter ... 'Can't you try and find out how we can be involved in these FIFA activities.'" The girl might then fall into the hands of human traffickers and into forced prostitution. "So, the mother has been a passive trafficker," he said. "We'll be dealing with such issues, in order to make people aware that poverty can drive you into this kind of situation."
 
The churches in South Africa are already organizing consultations among themselves and with other faith communities to develop a common strategy to tackle the problem. A major focus will be advocacy work with the government.

In the past, churches have not been pro-active, Ramashapa admitted. For 2010, however, the churches will come up with a very concrete program of activities.

Addressing the global Lutheran communion, Ramashapa said, "We are saying that our pain in South Africa should be the pain of all Lutherans, our joy in celebrating 2010 should be the joy of all Lutherans, and therefore our concerns - our ethical concerns - , should be the concerns of all the Lutherans in the world. We need both human and material support." (354 words)

(By LWI correspondent Julia Heyde)

*        *          *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 141 member churches in 79 countries all over the world, with a total membership of over 68.3 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be freely reproduced with acknowledgment.] 

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
P. O. Box 2100 CH-1211 
Geneva 2 Switzerland

Tel.: +41/22-791 63 69 
Fax: +41/22-791 66 30