Women religious are often the first people to discover problems emerging in society because they work directly with so many people in need, an anti-trafficking advocate said.
However, because religious focus more on providing assistance than publicising their efforts, the rest of the world is often slower to catch on to where there is trouble, said Ivonne van de Kar, the coordinator of the Foundation of Religious Against Trafficking of Women in the Netherlands.
Women religious in the Netherlands, for example, "had started to work with women in prostitution when there was absolutely no attention (given to) them," and they provided a safe space for women to rest and chat, she told Catholic News Service on November 4.
