Angelika Weigt-Blätgen
Secretary pastor and directive theologian of the Evangelische Frauenhilfe of Westphalia

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,

let me first of all cordially welcome you at the chapel of the Evangelische Frauenhilfe of Westphalia.
My Name is Angelika Weigt- Blätgen. I am the secretary pastor and directive theologian of our organization. I am glad to be gathered with you to talk about human trafficking and trafficking in women, which is one of the biggest human society problem of our time.

Let me stress two aspects of fighting trafficking in women, which are very important for our shared challenge.

  • On the one hand we have to do the most important thing concerning the human and social side:
    We have to take great care of women who are affected with human trafficking and offer them a real companionship they can trust in.
  • On the other hand we have to battle on an other platform - the legal one. It has to be our demand to reach a legal claim in every country for women affected with human trafficking to those things they first of all really need: A secured accommodation - a helpful chaperonage - and an assured residence permit status. These are important keys to get those women back in a position with a real chance to live a self-determined life in dignity.

We, as a Christian organization for helping women, take part in this work especially through our women-helpline NADESHDA with its headquarter in the city of Herford. NADESHDA is the Russian word for hope. To fulfil our demand connected with this name we see as our Christian task and duty to convey an impression of the peace and justice that has the source in our faith to the women we help there.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
We want to make perfectly clear that you can be sure of us consequently making our contribution to our shared work. We are really glad to have you here at the 5th international conference. We are hopefully looking forward to work together with you, to reach a better future for women in our countries and at our continent europe, to be a mutual enrichment for one another and to be partners in fighting trafficking in women.

God bless you and your hard and engaged work.