Vatican, Anglicans & Muslims Sign Accord Against Human Trafficking

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VATICAN, ANGLICANS & MUSLIMS SIGN ACCORD AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING

from left : Anglican bishop, Sir David John Moxon, Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, Catholic bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo and Professor Mahmoud Azab pose after the signature od the "Global Freedom Network" agreement on March 17, 2014 at the Vatican

From left : Anglican bishop, Sir David John Moxon, Andrew"Twiggy" Forrest, Catholic bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo and Professor MahmoudAzab pose after the signature od the "Global Freedom Network" agreement on March17, 2014 at the Vatican (AFP Photo/Andreas Solaro )

March 17, 2014 - Vatican City (AFP) -Catholics, Anglicans and Muslims came together Monday to fight slavery with thelaunch of a global network to tackle human trafficking, forced prostitution andchild labour.

The Global Freedom Network, the brainchild of billionaire Australian magnateAndrew Forrest, will pressure governments and businesses to free millions ofmen, women and children held in bondage around the world by 2020.

"Today, the economic exploitation of our fellow human beings causes almost 30million people to be enslaved, more than at any time in human history," Forrestsaid at the launch.

The Vatican, the Anglican Communion and Cairo's Islamic al-Azhar Universityare leading the initiative, which "brings together faith communities of almostthree billion people -- nearly half of the world's population -- and will inviteall faiths to join its leadership," he added.

Overcoming strained relations between the Vatican and al-Azhar -- whichdeteriorated during the papacy of pope Benedict XVI -- the network bringstogether Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Grand Imamof al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb.

Representatives of all three met at Vatican to sign up to the initiative,which Forrest said would bring together "millions of churches and mosques togather in one great army to fight the war against slavery."

The network will call on the world's 50 biggest corporations to root outexploitation of workers in their supply chains and ask the Group of 20 mostadvanced nations to set up a global fund to finance programmes tacklingslavery.

"There are forms of slavery in all industrial sectors," said Forrest, who hassecured the support of fellow billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson.

Mahmoud Azab, on behalf of al-Azhar, told AFP the network is a "strong appealagainst the egotism of rich countries, against materialistic societies whichmust stop all forms of aggression against the human being".

"Modern slavery and human trafficking are one of the greatest scandals and atragedy of our age, which touches every part of the world in some way," saidDavid John Moxon, who represented Welby.

In 2013, the Walk Free Foundation published a Global Slavery Index, coveringall forms of bondage from people trafficking to children forced to wed, whichestimated that 29.8 million people live in slavery worldwide.

The west African nation of Mauritaniaranked worst for slavery, followed by Haiti and Pakistan.