• Sr. Catherine O'Connor, Covenant's Vice President, Mission and Sponsorship, created a DVD on the issue of trafficking in the U.S. (This DVD is available by contacting  info@covenanths.org.)

• Covenant, along with the Massachusetts General Hospital Emergency Department Division of Global Health and Human Rights, will be presenting at the Catholic Health Association Assembly in June in Anaheim, California, on "Human Trafficking and the Health Care Provider."

• Covenant member, St. Mary's Regional Health System, co-sponsored the second annual two-day conference entitled, "Not Here: A Call to Action against Human Trafficking" in Auburn, Maine.

• Covenant has added the following in its hotel contracts:

"Covenant Health Systems recognizes that we in Catholic healthcare have a responsibility to play a critical role in increasing awareness and prevention of human trafficking both directly and through supply chains.

"Human trafficking, both the exploitation of children and forced labor, may occur at hotel properties by their very nature. Covenant Health Systems strongly supports efforts designed to deter abuse and exploitation at properties with which we do business. If your facility has not yet adopted a Human Rights Code of Conduct to avoid the abuse and exploitation of women and children, we respectfully request that your organization endorse the "Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism," (IH&RA) www.thecode.org (copyright@2006). Commitment to this Code will influence future contracts."

• Covenant worked with its Group Purchasing Organization, Yankee Alliance, to insert the following language in all contracts:

"- Labor Laws. Suppliers are expected to comply with all local country labor and human resource laws and regulations, including those related to wages, hours worked, working conditions and child labor.

"- Labor and Human Resource Practices. Suppliers are expected to adopt sound labor and human resource practices and treat their workers fairly.  

"Specifically:

"- Employment Practices. Suppliers must hire and employ workers in compliance with applicable laws. Wages, benefits, and working hours are expected to be fair and reasonable in the local labor market.

"- Child Labor. Suppliers must comply with the applicable local laws with regard to the minimum hiring age for employees. If no such law exists, or if the existing law permits the hiring of child labor younger than 18 years of age, the supplier may not employ child labor under 14 years of age to work on Yankee Alliance projects. The supplier may hire child labor between 14 and 18 years of age to work on Yankee Alliance projects only if the supplier implements and maintains, in addition to the general standards for environmental, health and safety identified above, all working conditions needed to adequately protect the safety and health of each such child.

"- Forced Labor. Yankee Alliance expects suppliers to not use labor that is a result of mental or physical coercion, physical punishment, slavery or other oppressive labor conditions. Suppliers and their employees cannot engage in any form of human trafficking. This prohibition includes not only forced labor and other forms of coercive conduct but also the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of persons for commercial sex acts and the legal or illegal procurement of sex acts for anything of value.

"- Discrimination. Suppliers must respect the right of every person to participate in all aspects of employment without regard to their personal characteristics or beliefs (for example, their race, religion or sex). Suppliers' policies and practices should result in employment decisions being made on the basis of workers' ability to do the job, and not on their personal characteristics or beliefs.

"- Freedom of Association. Suppliers must respect workers' right to associate freely, in compliance with existing local laws and without intimidation, reprisal or harassment."