Sister Margaret Ng rsj Receives International Sisters Anti Trafficking Servant Leadership Award 2025
The Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart congratulate Sister Margaret Ng rsj who has been awarded the Sisters’ Anti Trafficking Servant Leadership Award for 2025.
The annual Sisters’ Anti Trafficking Awards (SATA), held in Lusaka, Zambia on 21 November 2025, proudly announced Sister Margaret as the recipient of this distinguished honour, which she accepted in person.
The Awards is a project by Arise, the International Union of Superior Generals of Women’s Religious (UISG) and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. It is the annual celebration of three Sisters, as representatives of their congregations and networks, who have demonstrated exceptional courage, creativity, collaboration and achievement in the protection of their communities from human trafficking.
The three awards are:
- The Human Dignity Award: For lifetime achievement in addressing exploitation
- The Servant Leadership Award: For excellence in network-building
- The Common Good Award: For courage and creativity in addressing exploitation
For the past 20 years, Sydney-based Sister Margaret has tirelessly dedicated her ministry to anti-trafficking work. She was a founding member of Australian Catholic Religious Against the Trafficking of Humans (ACRATH) and was founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph’s Counter Trafficking Project, in which she still ministers.
“Sister Margaret’s passion for this ministry is grounded by her deep understanding of interculturality,” said Sister Clare Conaglen rsj, from the Sisters of Saint Joseph Congregational Leadership Team. “Her capacity to work at the grass roots level with people, as well as walk the halls of Parliament House advocating for those trafficked, highlights the depth and breadth of her work.”
“It is an honour and privilege to accept this Award and I dedicate it to the victims and survivors of human trafficking who have allowed me to accompany them as they journey to wholeness and a sense of self-worth,” shared Sister Margaret.
Calling upon every person of goodwill to make a difference, Sister Margaret stated: “The question to ask is are you eating, using or wearing somebody’s misery? No matter who and where you are, you can make a difference in the lives of people who have been enslaved. We can all be a voice for the people, especially for those who have been trafficked.”
Human trafficking is the process by which people are coerced or lured by false prospects, recruited, relocated, and forced to work and live in exploitative or abusive conditions.
In recent decades, UISG facilitated anti-slavery studies and programs which led to the establishment of Talitha Kum in 2009.
Across continents, networks of Sisters can be found, often under the Talitha Kum banner, working tirelessly to protect high-risk communities and survivors. They are well-placed to provide insight into the gendered circumstances of trafficking, where over 70% of victims are women and girls. Guided by a belief in universal human dignity, Sisters refuse to abandon anyone in need of help.
