Mary Ward Centre to host UN trafficking webinar

Geopolitical machinations and high-profile sit-downs amid a tense global landscape are, as expected, commanding the spotlight during the ongoing 81st session of the UN General Assembly that concludes Sept. 28 in New York City.

Nevertheless,  hundreds of ancillary events scheduled in New York and abroad alongside the main general debate meeting are devoted to discussing pressing worldwide issues of the day.

One notable side gathering is the 15th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, primarily hosted at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in the United Arab Emirates.

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This year’s congress is highlighted by a Sept. 28 webinar, jointly presented from Abu Dhabi and New York, titled “Cross-Border Strategies to Prevent Human Trafficking.” This dialogue event is co-hosted by the Toronto-based Mary Ward Centre, a Catholic social justice and educational ministry established by the Loretto Sisters. It begins at 7 a.m. EST on Zoom.

Eva Rodriguez-Diaz, Mary Ward Centre’s migration, labour exploitation and human trafficking program manager, is one of the four featured panellists who will participate in a discussion moderated by Sr. Imelda Poole, who co-founded the Mary Ward Loreto Foundation in Albania in 2012. The other panellists are Nabanita Shome, assistant director of the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Center in India; Sr. Fransiska Imakulata, director of the Church-backed humanitarian organization Tim Relawan Untuk Kemanusiaan Flores (TRUK F), Indonesia; and Sr. Abby Avelino, international coordinator of Talitha Kum.

Rodriguez-Diaz expressed hope that the hard truths shared during this conversation could turn talk into action.

“We are emphasizing cross-border collaboration because we know that inside our country, we are trying to do our best, but criminal networks are crossing borders,” she said.

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Each panellist will also relay the best trafficking prevention practices at work today in the Global North and Global South. There will be particular attention to how the flows of migration have shifted since the U.S. embarked on its mass deportation campaign when U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term in office in January 2025.

“We need to understand the risk that this reconfiguration of migration (policy) is affecting migrants and how these criminal networks are also reconfiguring their criminal actions,” said Rodriguez-Diaz.

It is a complex problem requiring both short-term and long-term dynamic solutions, as according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “an estimated 27.6 million people are subjected to human trafficking and forced labour worldwide at any given time.”

When asked if an event associated with the United Nations is an effective forum to advance transformative ideas and actions, Rodriguez-Diaz offered both a positive and negative appraisal.

“The positive is the United Nations is constantly putting together organizations to share the different situations happening around the world to create a better understanding and framework about human trafficking and smuggling,” said Rodriguez-Diaz. “A difficulty is that other than connecting in conversation, we’re not doing anything else.

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“A big weakness is the capability we have to connect as civil organizations, even as churches, more than doing these webinars. How can we create grassroots strategies? How can we connect and collaborate on the ground with actions?”

Understanding how criminality is sprawling and never rests, Rodriguez-Diaz is championing daily action instead of symposiums every two or three months.

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)

A version of this article appeared in the September 27, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "Mary Ward Centre to host UN trafficking webinar".