“Sometimes I don’t pay my workers for a few months…just to mess with their heads.” – a human trafficker in Saipan
Unpaid and forced labor is just one warning sign of a human trafficking case. Many traffickers use wage with- holding as a means of control over their workers; withholding identity documents such as passports is another tool of manipulation.
Without your I.D. or any money, how can you flee or secure a better job?
It is a terrible reality that the CNMI has ever been known as a “hot spot” for human trafficking (see Marianas Variety, Jan.9th 2018). This week’s newspaper highlighted the work of the CNMI Human Trafficking Intervention Coalition (HTIC) of which Karidat is a proud member, and promoted the January 11th “Wear Blue” Day to raise awareness about human trafficking here in the CNMI. Our hope is to mobilize community members to do their part to fight this crime, and provide assistance to victims in order to combat this trend.
This year, “Wear Blue” Day fell squarely during the USCCB’s national Migration Week and here in the CnMI our own Bishop Ryan Jimenez has used the opportunity to issue a pastoral letter.
Not all unpaid workers are strictly defined as trafficking victims just as not all trafficking victims are migrants who, tricked into coming to Saipan in search for a better life, instead find misery and debt bondage—or worse. Some victims are among our own, and this needs to stop.
Karidat stands, as a member of the HTIC and along with the rest of our Chalan Kanoa Diocese, for fair wages for all workers and for freedom for all who are enslaved, whether locals or migrants.
#WearBlueDay #EndTrafficking #CNMISolidarity #NMW #ShareJourney
