Bethany Hoang's introduction to modern-day slavery involved a horror that brought exhaustion as she studied how people across the world are trapped in lives of servitude, often in brothels where they are raped multiple times a day.

She was in graduate school at Princeton University's theological seminary when she started reading about slavery, an issue she previously assumed ended with the U.S. Civil War.

"I felt overwhelmed, paralyzed, despondent."

Her boyfriend at the time, Anthony Hoang, whom she later married, took her to a fund-raising event in Washington, D.C. There, Hoang met a rescued slave.

"I had a blazing vision that God hears the cries of the oppressed," she said. "It was a moment of deep conviction and understanding."

She now leads the International Justice Mission Institute, the educational arm of the Christian rescue operation International Justice Mission. That mission brings her to Bloomington by invitation to speak at Wesley United Methodist Church on Jan. 28.

The statistics still can be overwhelming. National Geographic Society estimates there are 27 million slaves in the world, more than at any other time, she said.

It helps her and her audiences to think of one slave - one life - and what comes after freedom.

Hoang (pronounced "Hwang") talks about Elizabeth, a former kidnapping and rape victim who has an opportunity for a productive life after being freed by the International Justice Mission, working in cooperation with police.

Living in a rural tribe in Southeast Asia, Elizabeth was offered work abroad at a restaurant to help her family's finances. As this arrangement is common, the family trusted a friend who set up her travel. Instead, she was taken to Thailand, where she was locked in a brothel and forced to service multiple men every day.

She became a slave in the "sex tourism" industry, a term referring to men, often child molesters from the West, who vacation where they can take advantage of lax, inept or corrupt law enforcement.

The end of the story keeps Hoang going. IJM seeks restitution and after-care with the victims as well as severe punishment for those trafficking and enslaving people.

These rescue stories also help mobilize governments and those of faith to work on the issue.

In the United States and Canada, sex offenders can be prosecuted for rape committed while they are abroad. The U.S. State Department also issues an annual report analyzing the nature of slavery, enforcement and prevention work in every nation and regularly reports on U.S. action to stop it.

From the churches, Hoang seeks multiple forms of help.

The first is raising awareness, and this objective brings her to Bloomington at the request of seminary classmate Stan Irvin, associate pastor at Wesley.

Irvin said his church is investigating what actions it can take on global issues and that Hoang's talk is an important element. It furthers a two-fold objective of salvation and spiritual growth combined with social action, he said.

Irvin sees this as a balancing of "the Kingdom to come" with "the Kingdom now."

Hoang said other actions can include:

• Prayer for the enslaved and the IJO rescue missions.

• Financial support.

• Spreading awareness.

• Working for IJM. IJM needs specialists. It uses attorneys and people such as former police officers, who take personal risks during IJM sting operations.

Hoang espouses that the work is demanded and commanded by the faith.

For IJM, she said, a call to action is found in the Bible book Isaiah, in chapter 1. In the New International Version, the verse reads, ""(L)earn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."

---

Slavery talk in Bloomington

Bethany Hoang from the International Justice Mission will give sermons at the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services on Jan. 28 at Wesley United Methodist Church in downtown Bloomington. She will also speak during Sunday school. She is director of the IJM Institute, the educational arm of IJM.

• About IJM: International Justice Mission works globally on behalf of oppressed people, particularly those forced into servitude and sexual exploitation. It also fights against illegal land seizure, police abuse and illegal detentions. IJM is led by founder Gary Haugen, a former U.S. prosecutor. Prior to starting the group in 1997, his duties included helping with legal issues in post-genocide Rwanda on behalf of the United Nations.

• IJM goals: In addition to rescuing the enslaved, IJM seeks to comfort the oppressed and help them transform their lives after rescue. It pursues prosecution against oppressors, reforms within governments and training of police. Its work includes undercover sting operations and was highlighted, among other places, on a "Dateline NBC" program.

---

11 worst

Human trafficking is the use of people in modern-day slavery - coerced, forced or defrauded into labor and sexual exploitation. The sexual crimes involve forced prostitution of adults and any use of minors in the sex industry. The U.S. State Department annually issues a report on "trafficking in persons" in which it rates each country. These nations are deemed the worst. Here are excerpts from the 2006 report:

Belize

• Men, women and children, domestic and imported, used for slave labor, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude.

• "Laws against trafficking remained weak and largely unenforced, adult victims received no attention or assistance, and the government made no significant effort to raise public awareness and work with vulnerable populations."

Burma

• A source country for men, women and children exported to other nations for forced labor and sexual exploitation. Government uses coerced labor.

• "The military junta's economic mismanagement, human rights abuses, and its policy of using forced labor are driving factors behind Burma's large trafficking problem. … The Burmese military is directly involved in trafficking for forced labor and there are reports that some children were forcibly enlisted into the Burmese Army. "

Cuba

• Has a sex-tourism underground, involving adults and minors. Law enforcement accused of complicity. Also a place of forced labor.

• "Victims are punished for unlawful acts committed as part of their being trafficked; women and children in prostitution are occasionally sent to 're-education' programs, and most are sentenced to several years in prison."

Iran

• Source, transit route and destination for women and girls trafficked in servitude and sexual exploitation. Transit route for boys taken to Persian Gulf states, where they are abused and forced to be camel jockeys. Internal trafficking of women and girls for forced marriages.

• "(O)ne 16-year-old sex trafficking victim was hanged publicly by religious authorities who accused her of engaging in 'acts incompatible with chastity.' The governor of the town later congratulated the religious leader."

Laos

• Source country for domestic and imported men, women and children who are forced into sex trade and labor.

• "Government officials at the local level continued to punish rescued trafficking victims for unlawful acts that were a direct result of their being trafficked."

North Korea

• Source nation for forced labor and sexual exploitation of men, women and children. Citizen's illegally fleeing the nation to China become vulnerable to slavery abroad.

• North Korea's "own system of political repression includes forced labor in a network of prison camps where an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 persons are incarcerated."

Saudi Arabia

• A destination for Asian workers who are physically and sexually abused and sometimes denied wages. Includes domestic servants and use of children from India and Asia who are forced to beg.

• "The government prosecuted a few cases of abuse against expatriate workers under Saudi criminal laws during the past year. However, reports indicated that the government did not adequately protect victims, sometimes arresting, punishing and deporting them instead."

Syria

• Workers imported for sexual exploitation and involuntary servitude.

• "Syria has done little to address its trafficking in persons problem. It has no anti-trafficking policy, programs, or coordinator, but has shown some political will to tackle the issue. "

Uzbekistan

• A source of women trafficked to the Middle East, Russia and Asia for sexual servitude.

• "(T)he majority of convicted traffickers (in 2005) received prison sentences of less than 10 years, were granted amnesty, and thus served no time in prison."

Venezuela

• Provider and importer for women and children for forced labor and sexual slavery.

• "Laws against child trafficking provide for fines of one to 10 months' salary. Stipulated punishment for the prostitution or corruption of minors is as little as three months in jail; repeat offenders may face three to 18 months' imprisonment."

Zimbabwe

• Import and export spot for women and children in forced sexual and manual labor.

• "Although Zimbabwe demonstrated modest progress in the area of law enforcement, the government harassed an anti-trafficking NGO (non-governmental organization) and placed a significant number of its citizens at risk for trafficking as a result of the mid-2005 'Operation Restore Order' urban destruction campaign."

---

ON THE WEB

• www.ijm.org and www.ijminstitute.org: Official sites for IJM and IJM Institute.

• www.state.gov/documents/organization/66086.pdf: U.S. State Department "Trafficking In Persons Report" for 2006, exploring slavery issues in every country.

• www.state.gov/documents/organization/73227.pdf: U.S. State Department report on U.S. efforts against human trafficking.