Opposing human trafficking and modern slavery

VATICAN City:

Church and police authorities and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) came together here recently under the Santa Martha Group, headed by Cardinal Vincent Nicholas, to discuss and share their experiences and listen to each other. They discussed greater cooperation in combating the global scourge and horrific vulnerable people into modern slavery. Such cooperation is absolutely response and local action to save the victims and challenge the criminals.

the developed rich world and in the poorer developing countries, as well as in Eastern Europe, which are sources of victims of slavery. Pope Francis has rightly called it a crime against humanity and convened the grouping in his Santa Martha on top of the Church agenda since hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees fall victim to human violence, oppression, and hunger.

The Migrante and Refugee Section of the Vatican addressed the issue at a conference in Rome recently. The conference resolved to come up with a plan of action to guide and inspire both church and civil society to respond to the challenge

against persons, where by force or one place to another, treated as commodities and objects without human dignity or rights and are little or no pay when placed in a situation of abuse and coerced servitude or slavery.

labor or slavery is a thing of the past, when 13 million Africans were and transported across the Atlantic North and South America where they were made to suffer a life of cruel slavery. The rich of the United States and Europe became richer on their forced unpaid labor.

slavery has never really disappeared. It is all around us. It is underground in the criminal world. But the vic a bar or cleaning our hotel room or - rich developed world and ignore the enslaved in the sweatshops or or Asia and South America. In these places the sex tourists and traveling sex offenders abuse vulnerable women and children are enslaved in

of money with no investment. the enslavement of as many as 42 million people worldwide. Men, women and children suffer intolerable conditions of forced unpaid labor and are sold to gang masters, very little or no pay.

Many are told they have debts to pay for food, transportation and board-and-lodging incurred while on a false promise. They are cheated and trapped, and become victims of bonded labor, with so-called loans that they can never pay. Many are given drugs and made addicted, in the process incurring debts, provided mostly by the drug dealers. The victims can never escape the clutches of the human slavers. There are threats of violence against them a state of docility and fear. There is no consent or freedom of choice in peace, only fear and intimidation.

There are over a million children enslaved, many of them are in the sex industry. It is tolerated, accepted and seldom opposed by even Christian populations. The citizens allow sex slavery to thrive by their apathy and indifference. They don’t see the human misery that surrounds them in society as the neon lights of the abuse and rape the captured slaves.

Husbands are corrupted, result - doned families. Child abuse drives children to run away into the streets them. About 70 percent of sex as children in their own homes.

In the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries, most brothels and sex bars operate with a government permit. Although prostitution is illegal, it thrives with the connivance of the authorities. that he would offer virgins to the tourists to lure them to the Philippines. The victims are subjected to violence, forced abortions and exposed to venereal diseases and HIV-AIDS.

- ventive education to help people in the supply countries become aware - ers and labor recruiters. Where the the conscience and sensitivity of the public to the plight of victims. We must provide the public with an opportunity for easy safe reporting of abuse through a hotline.

We can deploy a trained churchbased awareness and rescue team to save victims and educate the public. respond to the hotline reports of modern slavery and child abuse. More professionally run therapeutic centers for the victims are very necessary. In these homes the victims can and legal assistance. An uncorrupted police unit trained to respond col prosecutor before a just judge is essential to have justice for the victims.

The team would give training seminars to parents, teachers, duty bearers and clergy to train them to be aware and teach them to recog We must act together to end this evil and save the victims.