“Journeying in dignity” is the theme of the ninth International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking, celebrated around February 8 2023.
Pope Francis reminds us, “Human trafficking is an open wound of contemporary society. A scourge upon the body of Christ. It is a crime against humanity.”
With the present economic/energy crisis, and coming so soon after the Covid-19 pandemic, many people across the world have become still more vulnerable to both labour exploitation and sex trafficking.
Crime networks are looking to further exploit and profit from them, becoming ever more inventive in their illicit endeavours. 
There are many serious labour violations against workers from the Philippines, and in the Middle East; in various countries, such as in Ethiopia, domestic workers are abandoned and deprived of their passports with their past year’s wages unpaid. Some are also subject to sexual abuse and violence. This happens in many places, including our own country. So, on her feast, February 8, we pray:

Saint Josephine Bakhita, you were sold into slavery as a child and endured unspeakable hardship and suffering. Once liberated from your physical enslavement, you found true redemption in your encounter with Christ and his Church.  O Saint Josephine Bakhita, assist all those who are entrapped in slavery; Intercede on their behalf with the God of Mercy so that the chains of their captivity will be broken. May God himself free all those who have been threatened, wounded or mistreated by the trade and trafficking of human beings. Bring comfort to survivors of this slavery and teach them to look to Jesus as an example of hope and faith so that they may find healing from their wounds.  We ask you to pray for us and to intercede on behalf of us all: that we may not fall into indifference, that we may open our eyes and be able to see the misery and wounds of our many brothers and sisters deprived of their dignity and their freedom, and may we hear their cry for help. Amen. (Prayer of Pope Francis)

In blessed hope,