LOURDES Hill College, Hawthorne, is continuing its efforts to raise awareness about human trafficking.
It recently screened the 2007 Australian film The Jammed – a social thriller, which highlights the sex slave trade in Melbourne – to hundreds of community members in the school’s Duhig Hall.
Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans chair, Good Samaritan Sister Pauline Coll, helped organise the event and introduced the movie.
Sr Coll said the night was about “raising awareness” that Australia is a destination country for human trafficking.
“It is very controversial and it is challenging for people to try and understand that trafficking and slavery exist in this country,” she said.
“Raising awareness through education invites people to take some action in whatever way they are able.”
While The Jammed focuses primarily on the issue of sexual exploitation, Sr Coll said trafficking and slavery included all forms of labour exploitation for profit.
“We cannot buy and sell people,” she said.
“Our work is based in Catholic social teaching and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which are both totally opposed to the evil of trafficking people as commodities.”
Lourdes Hill principal Narelle Mullins said watching the film, which is inspired by court transcripts and actual events, was a “confronting” experience.
“You couldn’t watch it and not be shocked or moved that some people are being treated this way,” she said.
Sr Coll agreed, remembering how she felt after watching The Jammed for the first time last year.
“I felt affronted and angry and appalled that such violence exists,” she said.
“It really raises the ugliness of the issue.”
Anyone wishing to find out more about human trafficking or The Jammed can contact Sr Coll at pauline@brisnet.org.au.
