Friday 6 February 2009

Time to stand for justice in Scotland


The Herald carries some very distressing news today. In a front page story, Sold into misery, followed up inside, Why Scotland is struggling to curb the sex traffickers, The Herald exposes this evil trade happening among us.
This is not prostitution, this is slavery, and it is happening in Scotland. We can no longer pretent that young girls are only abused in the developing world, or some other place, they are being enslaved in our cities and towns.
I know there are many issues facing Christians and churches today, however, we cannot close our ears to the cries of the oppressed, we cannot close our eyes and not see the violence done to the poor. It is a scandal and a shame to our nation that there have been no prosecutions for sex trafficking, that there are no safe houses specifically to help and care for these young and vulnerable victims of this horrible crime, that in our nation there has been no priority given to catching and stopping these human traffickers and their gangs. Perhaps if our MSPs spent less time playing party politics with a budget we might get some justice for the poor.
Some years ago tearfund ran a campaign to raise awareness of this issue. They produced a very helpful video which you can view at this site - Stop the Traffik video. Please do watch this short video and share it with others.
O Lord our God, who cares for the poor and the victims of violence, forgive us for turning away from this evil among us. As we follow Jesus our Saviour, who died to set us free from every form of slavery may we become agents of change who stand for justice, who stand with the poor and the victims. Lord, save these young girls and women and put an end to this vile trade. Amen.

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