“Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said. “For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs” (Matthew 19:13-15).
But the kingdom of heaven has missed a few of the little ones recently, it seems.
In a few days — the first weekend of June — we mark the “World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk.” (See Viva Network.) There are an estimated 1.2 billion of the little ones around the world: the desperately poor, the orphaned, the sexually exploited, the utterly neglected. They are one out of five of our entire human family. If the kingdom of heaven belongs to “such as these,” well, it is not immediately apparent.
More than 13 million of the little ones are exploited in the sex industry worldwide. The industry “trafficks” more than a million of our human family every year — stolen or seduced across national borders for sexual exploitation. Eighty percent are women. Fifty percent of the total are children.
We are not talking here about immigration, legal or illegal. We are not talking about willing participation in an unfortunate and unsavory business. We are talking about trafficking in human beings — like other criminals traffick in drugs. They are bought, sold, or stolen. They are exported from nation to nation, traded for use in forced labor, or in systems of debt peonage, or for sexual exploitation. Most, indeed, fall into this last category. Eighty-seven percent of all trafficked human beings are trafficked for sexual exploitation.
Human trafficking has become the second largest illegal business in the world, generating nearly $8 billion in revenues annually. The business is extraordinarily widespread. The United Nations counts 127 “source” countries — mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. “Destination” or “consumer” countries are more numerous — 137 countries around the world, many in the western world. One of the largest “consumers” of trafficked persons is the United States. Some of these little ones land in Minnesota, my home state. Why, it is estimated than nearly one hundred have landed in my home county.
But let me draw your attention to one of the busiest routes for human trafficking anywhere in the world: the porous border between Nepal and India. It is estimated that 18,000 young girls are trafficked every year from the mountains of Nepal into sexual exploitation in India. Approximately 10,000 of these — mostly young girls between the ages of 9 and 16 — are sold directly into brothels. A recent study titled “Nepal’s Lost Daughters” estimates that 200,000 Nepali girls are involved in the sex trade in India overall.
Peace Rehabilitation Center — one of our partners in ministry — is hard at work announcing the kingdom of heaven among “little ones…such as these.” From one perspective, they are little ones the kingdom of heaven seems to have missed: young women rescued from the sex industry in India, abused, oppressed, ill, and rejected. But from the perspective of Jesus, they chosen ones and precious. Yes indeed: there is room in the kingdom for such as these.
Heaven will not overlook the little ones; we have it on the promise of Jesus himself. But heaven’s people often do, unfortunately. This month, will you join us in prayer for children at risk?
“Let the little children come.”
(You can download special prayer resources and read more about the “World Weekend of Prayer for Children at Risk” at Viva Network online. Learn more about trafficking in Nepal at Peace Rehabilitation Center at. For further information regarding human trafficking visit the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.)