APT/AMRI participate at Commission on the Status of Women, UN NGOCSW65 Virtual Forum, 18 & 25 March 2021.

Thanks to the generosity of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd members at the UN, APT/AMRI was affoarded the opportunity to share about our anti-human trafficking work, in awareness-raising, advocacy, and campaigning.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s UN Commission for Status of Women held their Forum virtually. Because of the virtual format, the attendance at this year’s Forum was the highest on record, with more than 25,000 people registered to attend.

Over two 1-hour sessions, (at 19:30, GMT, 18 March) and ( at 18:00, GMT, 25 March) APT/AMRI members shared their individual responses to the calling of the anti-human trafficking mission. All drew upon their years of experiences and witness overseas, where they had seen the ‘Push factors’ such as poverty, war, displacement, and poor prospects for earning a living at home, nudge the most vulnerable into thinking they might have a better life in Europe.

APT/AMRI members also shared about the development of APT in its early years, building networks of Religious across Ireland to be alert and responsive to victims of human trafficking, a crime that continues to flourish in every corner of the world.

Awareness-raising by innovative means such as a Sponsored walk known as ”From the Bann to the Boyne,” the ”Turn off the Red Light (TORL) campaign; the UN GiftBox Campaign, and the campaign to legislate for the prosecution of human traffickers were some of the highlights referred to in members’ in their presentations over the two webinars.

Time was against us in the final night’s presentations and thus, the recording of 25 March 2021 should have included a presentation on the UN GiftBox Campaign, APT/AMRI National Conferences, and plans for an educational programme aimed at informing senior post-primary school students and their school’s wider communities, about human trafficking and exploitation.

18 March 2021 recording: https://youtu.be/JvGvwzuOcfI

25 March 2021 recording: https://youtu.be/ZLOUCh5rfxM