WUNRN
Pope Asks
Pontifical Academies to Help Fight Human Trafficking
By Cindy Wooden - August 23, 2013
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At the request
of Pope Francis, scholars and researchers belonging to two pontifical academies
and representatives of the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations
will begin focusing on the phenomenon of human trafficking and ways to fight
it.
A working group from the pontifical academies of Sciences and Social Sciences
and the federation will meet at the Vatican Nov. 2-3 for a preparatory workshop
examining the size of the problem, its causes and steps that can be taken to
prevent trafficking and to help victims, said Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo,
chancellor of the academies.
No one can deny that "the trade in human persons constitutes a terrible
crime against human dignity and is a serious violation of human rights,"
which is fueling increasingly complex international criminal networks, the
bishop told Vatican Radio Aug. 22.
In a May speech, Pope Francis said human trafficking is "a despicable
activity, a disgrace for our societies, which describe themselves as
civilized." Refugees, displaced and stateless people are particularly
vulnerable to "the plague of human trafficking, which increasingly
involves children subjected to the worst forms of exploitation and even
recruitment into armed conflicts," the pope said.
Bishop Sanchez said the international group of physicians, scientists, lawyers,
economists and other scholars participating in the meeting will look at ways
their disciplines can help the victims of trafficking and fight the phenomenon.
For instance, he said, scientists can start a DNA registry of children whose
parents have reported them missing, and it can be used for comparisons when
children are rescued from traffickers.
The social scientists, he said, will look at trafficking as one of the
"pressing economic, social and political problems associated with the
process of globalization."
The International Labor Organization has estimated that 20.9 million people are
victims of forced labor globally; that number includes victims of human
trafficking, Bishop Sanchez said. An estimated 2 million people -- mostly girls
-- are trafficked each year for the sex trade.
"Some observers believe that within a few years human trafficking will
surpass drug trafficking and weapons trafficking to become the most lucrative
criminal activity in the world," the bishop said.