At Pope Francis' request, Vatican experts will gather this upcoming
November with the aim of better tackling the growing scourge of human
trafficking.
“We must be grateful to Pope Francis for having identified one of the
most important social dramas of our time and that he has had enough
trust in our Catholic institutions to ask us to arrange this working
group,” said Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the
Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
The bishop's academy along with the Pontifical Academy of Social
Sciences and the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations will
meet to discuss a Vatican action plan to help combat what is often
referred to as the modern slave trade.
“Trafficking in human beings is a terrible offense against human dignity
and a grave violation of fundamental human rights,” Bishop Sánchez
Sorondo told Vatican Radio on Aug. 22. “In this century, it acts as a
catalyst in the creation of criminal assets.”
The group will meet at the Vatican City's Casina Pio IV, home of both
the Pontifical Academy of Science and the Pontifical Academy of Social
Sciences.
Bishop Sánchez Sorondo observed that the United Nations has begun to be
aware of this growing crime “only in 2000,” together with the effects of
globalization.
“The alarming increase in the trade in human beings is one of the
pressing economic, social and political risks associated with the
process of globalization,” he said. “It’s a serious threat to the
security of individual nations and a question of international justice.”
A 2012 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on human
trafficking says around 20.9 million victims are forced into labor
globally.
Each year, about two million people are victims of sex
trafficking, 60 percent of whom are girls.
The practice is not limited
to poor and underdeveloped areas, but extends to all world regions.
“Some observers argue that, in a few years, trafficking in persons will
exceed the trafficking of drugs and arms, making it the most lucrative
criminal activity in the world,” the bishop warned.