International Justice Mission

This week we are praying for International Justice Missions, (IJM) our partner in South Asia.  They thank us for our prayers and report that the team has continued in its efforts to fight sex trafficking and support survivors, even amidst the COVID-19 lockdown conditions.  

Here are some specific prayer and praise points from IJM:

Prayer: On July 9th, IJM and their police partners had hoped to lead a rescue operation to free a 15-year-old girl from sex trafficking at a private home. They had also hoped to arrest three female traffickers, who were suspected to be part of a larger trafficking network.  Unfortunately, the operation had to be postponed due to COVID-19 lockdowns, extreme weather, and additional police investigations.  Please pray we could gather the remaining evidence necessary to move this operation forward safely as soon as possible.  Pray also for this suspected victim’s safety as we work to rescue her. 

Prayer: Pray for an ongoing series of webinars that IJM is hosting with journalists in the project area.  The team is hoping to educate influential local journalists about the state of sex trafficking today and the ways elements of the crime are moving online.  Pray that these journalists would be engaged and excited to cover these topics, and that together they could create crucial awareness of modern trafficking tactics. 

Praise: Many survivors of sex trafficking we serve have been struggling during the COVID lockdowns, but they also continue to surprise us with their resilience and altruism.  Two of our champion survivors raised concerns on behalf of people in their neighbourhoods who were in need of help.  They approached IJM for support in order to help as many as possible.  IJM’s community engagement team coordinated with Habitat for Humanity on relief materials for these communities.  On July 14th, IJM successfully delivered the relief materials to our champion survivors who then distributed it among the people in their communities who were in need.