Saving Albania's trafficked victims - a podcast by BBC World Service

For 16 years Sister Imelda Poole has been fighting in a war. This war has brought her to countries all over the world and just when she thinks she is making progress, the war game changes. Based in Albania, during the pandemic Sr Imelda noticed a new trend in human trafficking as people in poorer regions were struggling to pay their rent due to losing their jobs. It came in the form of a compromise from their landlord; offer your daughter for sex or to be entered into the sex industry to clear the debt. Many of these girls were very young. Some were left with no choice, others, thankfully were able to avail of emergency Covid funding.

Stories like these are what Sr Imelda and her team at RENATE (Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation) are hearing every day and trying to do what they can to rescue woman from trafficking. They are at war with the complex and often vast trafficking gangs who move women out of countries like Albania and into Italy and other parts of Europe. Now, they operate online as much as offline, using the dark web as a marketplace for people.

We meet Sr Imelda in Albania to hear how a small nun from England ended up doing this work. We talk to her about how her faith gives her the fire to keep fighting for these women, despite figures showing that the problem of trafficking is only getting worse. At a recent visit to the Vatican, Sr Imelda met with Pope Francis in a bid to highlight the plight of these women and show how the Church can help them. We meet some of those girls who have been rescued and given a new life to hear their stories. And we visit the poorer regions of Albania and hotspots where the gangs operate.

(Image: Sister Imelda Poole. Credit: BBC)

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