Open Secrets: An Irish Perspective on Trafficking and Witchcraft

Open Secrets is a practical response to the human trafficking and witchcraft encountered during Cois Tine’s pastoral work with immigrants over the past ten years. Fr Angelo Lafferty SMA, Director of Cois Tine says. “The suffering and pain caused by human trafficking and witchcraft are enormous. Because of the fear and secrecy surrounding them they were rarely spoken about openly. We also found that, in general, people did not understand or even accept the reality of trafficking and witchcraft in Ireland. Consequently appropriate responses are not being made to victims. To raise awareness and understanding we decided to do something about it and Open Secrets is the result.” Open Secrets provides a clear description of human trafficking, its causes, processes, effects, and of the violence and greed that lie at its heart. Witchcraft is examined from the perspective of its history and its different manifestations in Europe and Africa. During the colonial era and into modern times, these manifestations have intermingled and influenced each other and now, in modern Ireland, they meet again in the violence of human trafficking.