Scottish Catholic Observer

By Beth Knight-Townsley

There has been a powerful response to Pope Francis’ call to tackle human trafficking.

The Vatican this weekend held the first of two seminars, leading to a larger conference, to address human trafficking issues and modern slavery, including forced labour and prostitution. The event—Trafficking in human beings: modern slavery, Destitute peoples and the message of Jesus Christ—was organised in conjunction with the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and of the Social Sciences and the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC). Speakers included Professor Werner Arber, president, Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Professor Juan Jose Llach, also from the group.

The seminar’s aim is to try help the 29 million people worldwide considered to be modern slaves. The Pope is heavily invested in this issue, which he learned a great deal about after his years in Latin America.

Professor Llach told those at the event: “This was an explicit petition from Pope Francis to the Vatican academies to analyse this topic and come up with solutions. We received 49 proposals from the participants, and we hope to draft a statement on behalf of our academies.”

The Vatican plans to release a statement on  human trafficking in the coming weeks but it is unlikely to include direct action recommendations, such as the creation of DNA registry, as it will only address a small part of the problem.

Seminar participants did, however, discuss the challenges in fighting human trafficking. One of the biggest problems, they concluded, is that it is an illegal activity so those fighting it are not always aware of the full extent of the problem.

The biggest risk factors that lead to human trafficking are unemployment, poverty and poor education, the delegates heard.

“There are children who are forced to beg on behalf of criminal groups,” Professor Llach said of latest developments in the situation. “There are children worse off who are forced to sell drugs. They’re turned into users, then into dealers. And there have been many deaths of teens that have wanted to leave this groups.”

The two-day event attracted 80 delegates, many of who were academics from the fields of science, which included social and medical sciences. The Pope also invited two experts on human trafficking that he knew from his time in Buenos Aires.

Yesterday a group of women religious asked the Pope to further raise awareness about the issue by establishing a worldwide day of prayer and fasting.

“The Pope was very interested in our suggestion and asked us what date we would like the day to be,” Consolata Sister Eugenia Bonetti said.

The religious suggested February 8, the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese slave who found freedom in Italy and became a nun in the late 19th century.

The Vatican is planning another two-day seminar on human trafficking in preparation for planning a four day mega conference at the Vatican in 2015. The Holy Father is then expected to take direct action against human trafficking.

— Beth Knight-Townsley, from Our Lady ‘s High School, Motherwell, reported on this story while gaining work experience in the SCO’s Glasgow newsroom.