Missing boy case spurs church communities to unite in fight against human trafficking in Argentina

SÃO PAULO (OSV News) — More than two months after 5-year-old Loan Peña disappeared in the northeastern Argentine city of Nueve de Julio, the church continues to organize marches to demand his release.

Loan’s case is one of many concerns of church communities in Argentina fighting against human trafficking and the exploitation of people for labor and sexual purposes.

On August 26, Bishop Adolfo Canecín of Goya, about 45 miles southwest of Nueve de Julio, took part in a march and led a mass in honor of the boy, who disappeared on June 13 after visiting his grandmother. Members of Loan’s family, as well as activists from church movements that work against human trafficking, attended the gathering.

An organization of church groups that fight human trafficking has grown in the South American country. In July, several of the groups met in Buenos Aires and launched the Argentine chapter of the Latin American and Caribbean Ecclesial Network on Migration, Displacement, Refuge and Human Trafficking — known in Spanish as Red CLAMOR, or CLAMOR Network.

At the initiative of the Commission for Migrants and Refugees of the Argentine Episcopal Conference (CEMI), movements fighting against human trafficking gathered for a street march on July 28. The demonstrators demanded the attention of the authorities to prevent new cases like Loan’s.

Banners with Loan’s name, along with demands that he be returned alive to his family, were the dominant elements of the protest. There have been numerous cases like the boy’s throughout Argentina in recent years. Victims are remembered every year on July 30 during the commemorations of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Pope Francis is a powerful international voice in condemning human trafficking, which he calls a “global plague.”

“It is a call to action, to mobilize all our resources in the fight against trafficking in persons and to restore the full dignity of those who have been victims,” the Pope said in February, warning that “if we close our eyes and ears, if we do nothing, we will be guilty of complicity.” He made the statements in his message for the 10th World Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Trafficking in Persons.

“I dare say that the Pope is the world leader who has most raised awareness of the problem of human trafficking and has encouraged us to work together in networks with other movements that fight it,” lawyer Ayelén Tomasini, member of the Bishops’ Conference’s National Commission for Justice and Peace and coordinator of the No to Human Trafficking team, told OSV News.

According to Father Juan Antonio Ramírez, secretary of CEMI and member of Scalabrin, human trafficking is not new in Argentina. There have been hundreds of cases over the years that have never been solved because no conclusive evidence has ever been found.

“Many of these problems take place in an atmosphere of crime and violence, making them invisible to most people in society,” said Father Ramírez.

The priest said that a large part of the police operations against human trafficking involve labor exploitation. Victims usually come from rural areas or neighboring countries. Their vulnerability attracts the attention of the criminals.

“Despite the economic difficulties Argentina has faced in recent years, the influx of immigrants has remained largely unchanged,” he said, adding that they end up finding informal jobs and working in illegal and undignified activities.

In 2023, the unemployment rate in Argentina was 5.7%. In the first quarter of 2024, it jumped to 7.7%.

Tomasini stressed that social vulnerability encourages human trafficking and exploitation of slave labor, so it is certainly true that this situation has been deteriorating recently.

Argentine President Javier Milei, who took office in December 2023 with the aim of reducing the state’s participation in the Argentine economy, has drastically reduced the amount of money spent on prevention and rescue programs for victims of violence and human trafficking, according to the non-governmental organization Civic Association for Equality and Justice.

Numerous church organizations are working on the front lines of humanitarian aid for people who are vulnerable to trafficking. One example is public restaurants run by parishes, where people can get a hot meal for free.

“However, due to the economic crisis, the food often does not reach such restaurants. Catholic groups complain about it,” Tomasini described.

“The church has a capillary work, but of course it cannot do everything that needs to be done. That is why we need to organize networks,” Tomasini said.

She believes that extra attention should be paid to activities that can help prevent human trafficking, such as information and prosecution of criminals involved in solved cases.

“The Loan Peña case gained national attention after the press started talking about it, which should help society understand that there are many more invisible cases like his,” she added.

Eduardo Campos Lima writes for OSV News from São Paulo.