This past Friday and throughout the weekend was an deeply intense time for IJM South Asia staff and our clients. The seven (total of 23 people) families removed from the rice mill have given testimony to the the enormity of abuse they have suffered; however, official release has not yet been granted by the government.

Official release by the government is an absolutely critical step in the rescue process - it secures the long-term safety of former slaves, guarding them from being retrafficked and ensuring they receive economic restitution to begin their new lives of freedom. Our staff team will continue caring for these slave labor clients and will continue working with the authorities until official release is granted. We are praying that all release certificates will be granted this week. Please join this fervent prayer.

The fight is not yet won, but it is not over. Please continue to pray for the staff team in South Asia, and especially for each of these families.

Pray that God would bring deep courage and peace for all involved.
Pray that God would remove any final obstacles to freedom.
Pray that each of these families would know freedom in all of its forms, for the rest of their lives.

We will keep you posted as the case progresses. Please feel free to continue to send encouragement to the team - every word strengthens them.

The authorities have listened to one of the victim’s testimonies so far. This victim shared of the years of forced labor and the horrible treatment that they had faced at the hands of the owner.  The official was visibly moved by the recounting of the story, but there has not been any action yet and we are concerned no action will be taken. 

Please pray for:
• Safety of IJM staff & the victims as they spend the night in the gov’t office. 
• The government officials, that they would make the right decisions.
• Refreshment for the victims, as they are tired and worn out.
• IJM staff, that they would remain bold and strong.
• The victims to be granted release certificates tomorrow morning.

In the director of this field office’s own words,

“We have a long fight on our hands and we are ready for it.”

Please continue to join me in prayer for them.

One South Asia team was confronted with a potentially violent mob but is now safe at the police station with the rescued former slaves. They are awaiting word from the local authorities as to the next steps - please pray for justice to be done.

The second South Asia team (the one from the detailed blog post request below) is in the midst of an even more complicated ordeal - please pray for wisdom for the staff as they relentlessly pursue, even in these late-night hours, justice for each of the 16 victims. Six families are represented among the slaves. Please pray for each of these victims of slavery to have great courage.

For more frequent updates, please follow @ijminstitute on Twitter.

The operation centers on rice mill where we believe there to be 16 laborers enslaved, including a few children who have been forced to work at the mill.  The owner is a well connected political leader, and has previously been tipped off in anticipation of operations at his facility.  Please pray for these needs of the team:

• Good cooperation with the government
• For God to restrain the hand of the owner from anything he may do to try to thwart justice in this case
• For God to prevent the owner from receiving word about the operation in advance

Thank you so much for your prayers. Feel free to leave notes of encouragement and prayer (in the comments) for the rescue operation team as they move forward into the intensity of the day ahead.

This past week IJM Manila (Philippines) saw the conviction of a pimp accused of sexual abuse and prostitution of minor boys in Paco, Manila. After four years in litigation, Albert Sanchez was found guilty of qualified trafficking and has been sentenced by a Manila court to serve a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison. This case is particularly significant for IJM on several fronts: The charge of qualified trafficking, which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years, is a particularly serious charge requiring a more complex standard of proof, and there are only a handful of successful convictions each year on this charge. In addition, this case involved a series of difficulties that threatened to derail the case and prevent this perpetrator from being held accountable for his actions. The case’s success is a testament to God’s grace and the integrity of the Philippine judicial system to administer justice even in difficult cases. This case is also unique in that it marks the first conviction for qualified trafficking of male victims in the Philippines, even outside of IJM’s work.

IJM’s casework strategy works to not only seek victim rescue and aftercare, but also to accomplish perpetrator accountability leading to broader structural transformation. Successful prosecution and convictions show criminals that abusing the vulnerable will not go unpunished. This conviction helps change the fear-equation in the Philippines – from potential victims fearing exploitation to potential perpetrators fearing prosecution. This case demonstrates that justice can and will be accomplished, both for female and male victims.

- Tim Hakim

Praise God for the staggering miracle of total restoration he has brought to Melody and her children!

From the Prayer Partner email update:
Give thanks to God for IJM Zambia client Melody Nanga, who recently won her property back through IJM’s legal intervention on her behalf. After going through severe traumatic situations, she now has her house, six rooms to rent and a small shop. She will soon be reunited with her triplets, who had been living in a shelter when Melody was homeless as a result of property seizure. They are returning to her now that she has her home back and a stable source of income.

If you would like to leave a note of encouragement to the Zambia team, simply use the “comment” function below—I know they will receive so much joy from your words.

The testimonies of each girl clearly point to the suspect as the trafficker. Their testimony states that the suspect deceived the girls into believing that they would simply be attending a party in a hotel.  However, when they arrived at the hotel, the suspected trafficker sold them for sexual services to customers. The suspect was arrested by the Cebu local police after being caught in the act of selling the girls for sex. The transaction was caught on video making for a particularly strong case.

Please pray that the case will move forward without roadblocks, and especially pray for each of these girls as they are cared for in the aftermath of this trauma. Please also pray for the suspected trafficker, that God will move her to repentance and restoration.

If you would like to leave a comment below of encouragement to our staff and to these rescued girls, we would love that!

IJM Cambodia has made significant strides over this past week in their work with churches in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Below is an excerpt from a report we received from staff team on the ground:

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At a round table this past week with pastors from one of the largest churches in Cambodia, representatives from IJM’s field office in Phnom Penh opened discussions on launching an expanded initiative to bring the biblical mandate of seeking justice to the attention of Christians throughout Cambodia.

Field Office intern Karen Genzink has been working for months to lay the groundwork for this initiative and hopes that the meeting last week was the first of many to engage the Cambodian church in ways that are increasingly robust and sustainable.

IJM Cambodia will lead trainings to equip pastors on how to engage issues of sexual exploitation within their communities - enabling churches to serve as a resource to confront this challenge. Genzink also looks forward to sharing more deeply the mission of IJM throughout the body of Christ in Cambodia with the ultimate goal of witnessing the Holy Spirit move this part of the global church to action on behalf of those who are suffering as a result of human trafficking.

“We have to talk about the realities of oppression and the hope of biblical justice if we expect to see real transformation,” she says. “The church will be the lasting change.”

She says as more people advocate for change and justice in their own neighborhoods, the problem of oppression can be combated. The work has just begun for IJM Cambodia, but Genzink is confident that the road ahead is worth it. “This has the potential to be powerful.”

The Tenth Anniversary Edition of Gary Haugen’s original book, Good News About Injustice, released this past month. One of the helpful new resources in the appendix is a sampling of recommended resources for further reading. I’m including the list below (click “read more” for the full list of titles.)

Which books have you read? Which would you recommend to others and why? Which do you hope to read?

Justice Theology
• The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God’s Call to Justice.  Mark Labberton.  Intervarsity Press, 2007.

• God in the Dock.  C.S. Lewis. William. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994.
General Human Rights

• Ethics.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Simon & Schuster, 1995. 

• Letters and Papers from Prison. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Simon & Schuster, 1997.
(It is recommended that the two selections by Bonhoeffer be read together for comprehension)

• Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian. Gary Haugen.  Intervarsity Press, 2008.

General Human Rights
• Human Rights Watch World Report.  Human Rights Watch, Published Annually.

• The Trafficking in Persons Report.  U.S. Department of State, Published in June Annually.

• Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.  Kevin Bales. University of California Press, 2004.

• Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade – and How We Can Fight It.  David Batstone.  HarperCollins Publishers, 2007.

• Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. Roméo Dallaire. Da Capo Press, 2004. 

• Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves. Adam Hochschild. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006. 
• King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Adam Hochschild. Mariner Books, 1999. 

• Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery. Siddharth Kara.  Columbia University Press, 2008.

• Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World.  Tracy Kidder.  Random House Inc., 2004.

• Cry the Beloved Country. Alan Paton. Simon & Schuster, 2003.

• Let Justice Roll Down.  John Perkins.  Regal Books, 2006.

• A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide Samantha Power.  Harper Perennial, 2007.

• Night. Elie Wiesel. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. 

Thank you for persevering in prayer with us. Rejoice with us in this moment that 19 lives are newly free. Rejoice that these newly freed former slaves can now live new, protected lives with their families, having received full release certification from the government authorities, and now entering into long-term care. Praise God!