Bishops get at least $500,000 to aid trafficking victims

Published: 2006-04-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced April 18 that it has awarded a contract of at least $500,000 to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to aid victims of human trafficking. Awarded through the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the department's Administration for Children and Families, the contract will fund direct services provided to such trafficking victims through the USCCB's Migration and Refugee Services. It provides a minimum of $500,000 a year and up to $6 million a year to cover such costs, with a yearly renewal option up to four more years. The Catholic Church has been a leader in efforts in recent years to draw attention to and provide services for the large number of people who are brought into the country each year by force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation, slave labor or domestic servitude.

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