WASHINGTON - Faith-based organisations are calling for prayer, fasting and concern to combat the growing crisis of modern day slavery - or human trafficking.

The Second Annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting for victims of human trafficking, Sept. 28-30, encourages individual Christians as well as their churches to raise awareness on the heinous practice affecting hundreds of thousands of people each year.

"Many people are still unaware that sex slavery is a modern-day crime that uses human beings as commodities to be sold and enslaved," said Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, director and senior fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute.

"This horrible crime is now the #2 international crime just behind drug trafficking as the most profitable and extensive crime in the world," she added.

U.N. estimates conservatively that over 700,000 people are trafficked globally each year, generating revenue close to (USD) $10 billion.

Trafficking people involves recruitment, transportation or harboring victims for sexual or other forms of exploitation, either across or within borders.

In the United States, an estimated 14,500-17,000 people are trafficked into the country every year, according to the U.S. State Department. The majority of these victims are women and children, with 12-14 being the average age at which a girl is prostituted.

"In other words, many of the victims are just children and they are being exploited in the worst possible ways," Crouse noted.

The Salvation Army, which is also actively taking part in the prayer weekend, is urging Christians to organize one day in the workplace and one Sunday to focus prayer and intercession on behalf of people who are trafficked, enslaved and exploited.

"Petition God to change things, to free the captives, to end these evils, and to guide and empower Christians to serve, to prevent, to rescue and to restore," urged the Salvation Army.

While an estimated 700,000 people are trafficked across borders annually, an overall total of some 27 million people are considered modern day slaves, according to estimates by National Geographic Magazine in its September 2003 issue. Modern-day slaves include forced labor and forced prostitution in ones own country.

"By joining in the Second Annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting, Christians can become involved in the fight against modern-day slavery," concluded Crouse.