Fundraising to bolster anti-slavery work

The Church in England and Wales is stepping up its work to combat human trafficking by launching a fund-raising campaign to put its work in this area on a sound financial footing.

This includes the Santa Marta Group, an alliance of bishops and law enforcement chiefs from around the world that met Pope Francis last year, a research institute and a safe house for the victims of trafficking.

The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales is seeking £570,000 a year to fund these projects titled the St Bakhita Initiative, named after St Josephine Bakhita, a former slave from Sudan who became a religious ­sister.

On Monday a fundraising evening took place at the Park Plaza Hotel in Victoria, London where donors were briefed on the work of the Church in this area and asked to pledge money.

At the heart of the Church’s work is Caritas Bakhita House, based in a residential London street, that can provide accommodation for up to 14 female guests as well as non-resident victims. It hopes to provide emergency support, therapy, legal and financial help and mentoring and is due to open this month.

The house needs £350,000 for its annual costs; the property was purchased by the Archdiocese of Westminster for £3 million.

The Santa Marta Group, which needs £120,000 to sustain its work, is due to meet again in Madrid in October and is currently involved in a maritime-slave-labour project involving police and church organisations in the Philippines and Thailand and a Nigerian-based initiative to prevent the trafficking of young women. Its members include Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe.

The final element of the work is the Bakhita Research Institute – looking for £100,000 to fund its operational costs – which is forming a partnership with St Mary’s University in Twickenham to develop research and training.

This week St Mary’s announced that Kevin Hyland, the UK’s first independent anti-­slavery commissioner, will be a visiting professor at the university.  

At the event on Monday, Mr Hyland said that Pope Francis had lobbied the United Nations’ general secretary, Ban Ki-moon, about including the elimination of trafficking in the soon to be drawn up “Sustainable Development Goals”.