K a s s e l – The German “Federation of Evangelical-Free Churches” (BEFG) initiative “Network Against Trafficking” intends to help keep young, usually East European, women from accepting vague job offers from Germany which are often disguised forms of forced prostitution. The service that the Network is offering is called “Employer-Check”. At the BEFG’s annual conference in Kassel, the Network’s Director, Pastor Christine Schultze (Dortmund), explained to the European Baptist Press Service (EBPS) how the service functions. She explained: “It is better to protect people from being victimised in the first place than to treat the victims of trafficking afterwards.” The connections and existing links between the member Unions of the European Baptist Federation (EBF) will be crucial for this network. If a young woman is offered a job supposedly in a restaurant or home for the elderly, she can contact the Employer-Check service to discover whether the employer really does exist and whether the offer of employment and the company are credible. The services of Employer-Check are open not only to Baptists, but to all women irregardless of confession. Plans are to extend employer inspection throughout Europe. Contact has already been made with the other Baptist Unions of Europe and the EBF’s Anti-Trafficking Work Group. Investigations in major cities in Germany have shown that young women with Christian backgrounds also repeatedly end up in forced prostitution. US-surveys indicate that annually roughly 800.000 women worldwide become the victims of trafficking. In Germany alone the cases of 775 women were registered by the police in 2006. However, according to Christine Schultze, the actual number of such cases is much higher.

Contact address: www.netzwerk-gegen-menschenhandel.de