CLS Christian Lawyer Magazine June 2014_Proofforweb.pdf Jun. 2014 | Page 21

Without Further Review: Book recommendations
from the CLS community
The Locust Efect: Why the End of
Poverty Requires the End of Violence,
by Gary A. Haugen with Victor Boutros
(Oxford University Press, 2014)
REVIEW BY BYRON BORGER

O

ne would be hard-pressed to suggest a more emotionallygripping book as this new one by Gary Haugen, the State
Department lawyer turned human rights activist, founder of
the extraordinarily important International Justice Mission
(IJM). In my estimation, it was Mr. Haugen and IJM that almost
single-handedly put sexual traicking and contemporary
slavery on the radar of evangelical Christians, which, in turn,
has helped make contemporary abolition work a cause célèbre.
IJM really did help pave the way on this, both helping cement
the renaissance of social concern happening within the young
evangelical world, and awakening the world at large to the
stunning statistics on the prevalence of contemporary slavery.
here are many other important scholars/reporters (like Kevin
Bales whose writing is invaluable) and efective organizations
like the Salvation Army Initiative against sexual traicking, the
respected legal aid ministry Advocates International, or Not
for Sale—Alongside these and others, IJM is truly one of the
preeminent faith-based human rights organizations ighting
systematic evil.
hose who are looking to support an organization or learn
more about this dreadful scourge on the planet, IJM is very
highly regarded. It is wonderful to see a group that is so clearly
gospel-centered and rooted in the evangelical tradition that is
also uterly respected as a major NGO in the global scene.
I myself irst talked with Haugen many years ago—he had just
come back from Rwanda and as I recall he was interested that
an evangelical like me was involved with Amnesty International. I have chated with him since and have heard him several
times over the years (at an international CLS event and at our
Pitsburgh Jubilee conference) and believe him to be one of the
most inspired individuals I have ever met. His organization is
serious, thoughtful, principled, and efective.

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he Locust Efect reads very
well and is truly riveting, but
there are a lot of footnotes for
those who want further documentation. For over 350 pages,
he tells stories, explains the
details of cases, and draws exceptionally important new
insights. It is nothing short of
remarkable.
he book opens with three
powerful case studies (in Peru,
India and Kenya) of grotesque,
systematic practices of failures to enforce
laws against murder, rape, torture, and human slavery, reminding us that this global crisis is not merely occasional, nor is it
abstract. Haugen’s keen ability to tell gut-wrenching stories is
helpful, showing us in deeply human terms exactly what is at
stake. He and his co-author, Victor Boutros, (himself an investigator and prosecutor for the Department of Justice’s Human
Traicking Prosecution Unit) teach us that this vulnerability to
violence—the locust efect—is endemic to being poor. hey
do not mince words, insisting it is “catastrophically crushing
the global poor.” he ways in which violence causes poverty is
what they explain in this book. And no one on the planet could
do it beter.
Haugen writes,
“his plague of predatory violence is diferent from
other problems facing the poor; and so, the remedy
to the locust efect must also be diferent. In the lives
of the poor, violence has the power to destroy everything—and is unstopped by our other responses to
their poverty.
Of course other things such as hunger and disease can
wipe out everything, but, mostly, the world knows
this. here are global responses; we are atempting to
address these other great needs by drilling wells, serving refugees, helping with crops, doing micro-inancing, and such.”

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