It's an easy enough mistake to make. After all, the end of America's civil war and the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - both in 1865 - brought an end to slavery in the U.S. And the British Slavery Abolition Act in 1834 ended slavery in the West Indies, Mauritius and South Africa.

But many countries didn't outlaw slavery until the 20th century. In fact, it wasn't until 1981 that Mauritania finally abolished slavery - becoming the last country on earth to declare an end to this dehumanizing practice.

Human trafficking

But tragically, slavery did not completely end in 1981. It continues to this very day under a new name: human trafficking.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime defines human trafficking as "the recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring or receipt of a person by such means as threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud or deception for the purpose of exploitation."

Data from the UNODC's 2022 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons reveals that in 2020 approximately 50,000 victims of human trafficking were detected as reported by 141 nations. (see: Human Trafficking FAQs).

But the number of undetected and unreported victims is far higher.

According to the International Labour Organisation, 50 million people were living in modern slavery in 2021.

Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour, and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage. And more than three million children remain in forced labour with half of them in commercial sexual exploitation (see: Modern Slavery).

Child slaves

As reported in the recent U.N. World Day Against Trafficking in Persons: "Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking," shockingly, one in three victims of human trafficking is a child.

And these "children are subjected to various forms of trafficking, including forced labour, crime, begging, illegal adoption, sexual abuse and the online dissemination of abusive images, and some are also recruited into armed groups."

"Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking" emphasises the importance of seriously addressing the root causes of trafficking such as poverty and violence.

There needs to be a special focus on the trafficking of unaccompanied refugee minors, which highlights the need for governments to urgently put into place comprehensive safeguards to especially protect these extremely vulnerable little ones (see: End human trafficking day and World day against trafficking in Persons).

Here are additional excellent resources in the fight against human trafficking - Polaris, International Catholic Migration Commission and the Vatican's Migrants and Refugees Section.

I recently attended an excellent webinar conducted by the Alliance to End Human Trafficking. Please check it out.

Refuse to be indifferent

To help someone in the U.S. who may be the victim of modern day slavery, call, or urge them to call, the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. This hotline has multi-language capabilities.

For help outside the U.S., go to the Global Modern Slavery Directory website.

We have a lot of tools here to help us end the scourge of modern day slavery. Let's get involved. And let's get our parishes involved. Let's refuse to be indifferent to human trafficking!

For as Pope Francis said, "It is not possible to remain indifferent before the knowledge that human beings are bought and sold like goods."

• First published in WNY Catholic
• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist.

The Government has also disbanded a group set up to provide advice on this international crime.

Members of the former Modern Slavery Leadership Advisory Group say that, by failing to act, New Zealand will fall behind its international partners and put businesses at risk.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing global crime, Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand warns.

In 2024 it was estimated that approximately 50 million people are currently enslaved and exploited worldwide. This estimate has increased by 10 million since 2019.

Not a priority

After disestablishing the group in May, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ACT's Brooke van Velden said modern slavery is not a Government priority.

Several former group members are frustrated with the current Government's failure to make businesses publicly report on their efforts to address exploitation risks in their operations and supply chains.

It was a policy the Labour party had been keen to introduce.

The former group members are concerned what the lack of action will mean for New Zealand.

Legislation vital

Legislation is necessary to bring New Zealand into step with a number of key trading partners and to meet our domestic and international consumers' expectations, says the group's former chair Rob Fyfe.

"We have a proud heritage as a nation standing up for what's right and fair. Yet our voice is now missing on this issue ..." he says.

Like World Vision, Caritas NZ says the Government's inaction is out of step with strong public and business support for modern slavery legislation.

World Vision says it surveyed over 200 Kiwi businesses. 70 percent have no mechanisms in place to address modern slavery.

Without legislation, many won't examine their supply chains and procurement practices.

Our human rights record

New Zealand's human rights record was examined at the United Nations earlier this year.

The US and UK were among 14 countries that recommended our Government strengthen its policies on modern slavery and forced supply chain labour.

Modern slavery specialist Gary Shaw says the Government's inaction misses the opportunity to reinforce national values of fairness, equality and freedom. It also misses an opportunity to protect the business community.

The Government's attempt to protect business from additional regulation doesn't make sense in this instance, Shaw says.

Many companies are aware our trade standards will need to match up with those of our largest trading partners.

But Shaw says our response will be haphazard and inconsistent due to the lack of government direction.

In addition to the need for agreements covering the country's trade deals, Labour's Camilla Belich says there is a moral imperative to act.

Those being exploited are the most important, she says. Then come the New Zealanders unwittingly allowing those practices to continue.

We don't want New Zealand to be seen as allowing exploitation to continue when we could prevent it.

Source

• Newsroom
• Caritas

A newly released toolkit aims to help Catholic parishioners in Brisbane stamp out exploitation practices.

It also aims to raise parishioners' awareness of the significant presence of slavery in Australia today.

Brisbane archdiocese's Legal, Governance and Risk team developed the modern slavery toolkit in conjunction with the Australian Catholic Anti-Slavery Network.

The horrible truth

There are an estimated 41,000 people experiencing modern slavery in Australia.

Worldwide, there are about 50 million enslaved to others.

About 54 per cent are women and children. They are often trapped in forced labour arrangements or forced marriages.

The modern slavery toolkit

The Evangelisation Brisbane Inclusion team says the modern slavery toolkit was released during Laudato Si' Week.

Timing it in this way was a "concrete step in empowering our agencies to act ethically in our world".

The toolkit includes strategies and procedures to help the agencies function, while caring for people vulnerable to exploitation and slavery.

"It is now important that all in the Archdiocese use these strategies and continue our dedication to eliminating modern slavery in all its forms" the team says.

The toolkit includes a guide about how certain consumer-lifestyles and goods are more likely to rely on modern slavery practices than others.

A calculator which can be used to work out "how many slaves work for you" is included in the toolkit guide.

A lifestyle example the toolkit presents is that of the "modern mum". The calculator estimates 66 slaves work for her.

It calculates 3.5 slaves to produce a pram, milk bottles use 1.1 slaves and nappy bags 1.4 slaves apiece.

The number of slaves used to produce goods quickly adds up if ethically-sourced goods are not sought.

Australia's slaves

In Australia, certain industries are most likely to be staffed by slaves.

Those at greatest risk of modern slavery are likely to work in agriculture, meat processing, cleaning, security, hospitality and construction sectors.

They are also likely to be duped by industries that use labour hire and multi-tiered subcontracting.

These industries rely on vulnerable people.

Their workforces include temporary migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, working holiday makers, international students and sponsored workers from the Pacific.

Learn, help, share concerns

Brisbane's Catholic parishioners are being encouraged to learn more about modern slavery and its risk factors.

They are also being encouraged to celebrate the feast day of St Josephine Bakhita, the patron saint of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Parishioners can contact the Sydney archdiocese agency Domus 8.7 if they are concerned about someone in their community at risk of or experiencing modern slavery.

Source

• Catholic Leader

Bosses who like to turn staff into slaves should think again.

New legislation

By the end of the year New Zealand is likely to have new legislation to combat modern slavery.

Submissions on a discussion document "A legislative response to modern slavery and worker exploitation" close on 7 June.

The draft legislation means all Kiwi companies, big or small, must take ‘reasonable and proportionate' action if they became aware of slavery in their operations.

This includes their domestic and international supply chains and discoveries of worker exploitation in their New Zealand business.

Mandatory reporting requirements will see medium and large organisations (annual revenue over $20 million) obliged to show how they are addressing slavery and worker exploitation.

Very large organisations (annual revenue over $50 million) would have to undertake due diligence to prevent, mitigate and remedy slavery in their global and domestic operations and supply chains.

Directors could be held personally liable for breaches. Penalties might be anywhere from $600,000 to $5 million says Bell Gully lawyer Richard Massey. Companies need to start thinking about what they can do to prepare.

A wide range of potential measures could be implemented to prevent and mitigate any identified risks as part of meeting due diligence responsibilities, Massey says.

"The examples provided include: regularly surveying suppliers, commissioning third-party audits of suppliers' compliance with human rights and employment standards, and establishing hotlines or whistleblowing channels for reporting of concerns."

If the draft law goes through, "wilful blindness" - a legal definition of someone who could and should know about something but deliberately chooses not to find out - would not be a defence for a company where modern slavery is found in the supply chain.

Adapting Kiwi tech

New Zealand's orchard industry is one organisation that's taking the modern slavery issue seriously. Many of its clients rely on overseas migrant labour.

Extreme abuse has been uncovered. Modern slavery, especially involving Pacific Island and Asian workers, is alive and well in New Zealand.

Given the known risks, the NZ Apple and Pear member companies wanted to be sure exploitation wasn't happening.

They decided to use established technology to uncover and prove abuse was taking place.

Or, using the same technology, being able to prove it to customers and Government that it wasn't.

The way to achieve this wasn't in the realms of rocket science.

It was already in the toolbox in the shape of anonymous worker surveys for checking out company culture and other issues.

Could similar technology be used to check out exploitation in the orchards? Of course.

It was as easy as that.

Workers are given a link to an anonymous survey which they can fill out on their phone or laptop, at work or at home. They are asked questions about their workplace pay and conditions.

They answer.

Simple.

Source

• Newsroom
• Image: Anti-Slavery Internatonal

ACAN's Compendium of Modern Slavery Statements highlights the work of over 40 Catholic entities including dioceses, health, education and welfare bodies.

Signatory organisations, such as the Sydney Archdiocese's Catholic schools, identify areas of risk and the measures they will take to eradicate supplies tainted by slavery.

The International Labor Organization estimates that more than 40 million people globally live in modern-day slavery. Children are thought to make up about a quarter of those being victimised.

Australia is far from immune, with the United Nations estimating there are approximately 15,000 victims in Australia.

The ACAN document commits Australia's largest Catholic entities to eradicate links to slavery in their operations. This is significant as the Catholic Church is Australia's second-largest employer, ranking only behind the government.

The compendium is a work in progress, said attorney John McCarthy, chair of the Archdiocese of Sydney's Anti-Slavery Taskforce and a driving force in its compilation.

While addressing areas of potential cooperation with slavery by the archdiocese, the task force also proposed a national network of Catholic agencies and institutions, which became ACAN.

ACAN participants concur that eradicating slavery in all its forms is an expression of fundamental Catholic social teaching.

A key achievement of the compendium, McCarthy said, has been the extensive identification of areas of risk for organisations to consider.

"We don't rely on anecdotal evidence anymore," he said. "We now know where our major risks are and what to do about them."

The Australian effort is gaining international attention.

"As Catholic people and organisations around the world are hearing about what we've managed to achieve in Australia, they're starting to see the possibilities for the introduction of anti-slavery measures in Church entities in their own countries," McCarthy said.

"That makes all the work our members have put in so far worthwhile. We're showing that the Catholic Church is committed with Pope Francis to eradicating modern slavery in our generation."

Sources

Catholic News

Catholic Weekly

ACAN

It was ordered to repay the worker $8000 and put on a "stand-down" list preventing it from hiring migrant labour for six months.

The sad truth is that it's not an isolated instance of labour exploitation.

One of the most notorious cases hit headlines last year when Hastings-based Joseph Matamata was found guilty of 10 charges of people trafficking and 13 charges of dealing in slaves between 1994 and 2019.

The victims were forced to work on orchards and do other jobs but never paid for their labour.

The court found Matamata enslaved people through violence and intimidation. He kept their passports and restricted their movements.

It's among four trafficking prosecutions taken since 2009, involving a total of 51 victims.

"These numbers likely only reflect the tip of the iceberg," according to Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety Michael Wood.

In March, the minister released a five-year plan to combat modern slavery - the term coined to describe the rise of forced labour in today's economy.

The plan comes with a $50 million budget and a pledge to look at new laws. Harsher penalties for offenders are also in the pipeline. But there's pressure on the government to pick up the pace and introduce a Modern Slavery Act, following moves in other countries.

Global slave trade

More than 40 million people are estimated to be trapped in slavery, according to the Global Slavery Index 2018. Nearly two-thirds are in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mounting evidence of forced labour has led to renewed calls for companies to shoulder more responsibility for their supply chains and the people making their products.

In 2015, the UK introduced a Modern Slavery Act. It requires companies earning more than £36 million ($NZ70m) a year to report annually on the steps taken to ensure their products aren't produced by slave labour.

Three years later, Australia passed its own Modern Slavery Act. The law means companies earning more than $A100 million ($NZ107m) must publish "modern slavery statements" setting out what they're doing to address forced labour risks.

This law also applies to New Zealand companies that trade in Australia. To date, 23 New Zealand businesses - including Contact Energy and New Zealand Post - have published modern slavery statements.

Chapman Tripp partner Nicola Swan believes several hundred New Zealand businesses could be affected either being required to produce their own statements or to report on slave labour risks to Australian parent companies. Continue reading

The app is part of a broader Building Links project initiated by the Australian Catholic Anti-slavery Network (ACAN).

The project aims to increase the capacity of construction industry participants to recognise and respond to modern slavery. It's since secured a grant from the federal government. It includes online training and toolkits targeted at the Australian domestic construction industry, mainly migrant workers.

The project sprung from the ACAN's work to address modern slavery concerns in the supply chains of Catholic entities in Australia, which is the largest employer in Australia outside the public sector and includes schools, hospitals and aged care facilities.

Read More

"Modern slavery is not something that happens 'over there' that we don't have to think about," Grace Forest, co-founder of Walk Free, told Vogue Australia in 2018.

"If we care about the people who make our products, we can make a difference."

Fashion has been identified as one of five key industries implicated in modern slavery.

But Fashion is not the only culprit.

A Walk Free report published last year, says one in 150 people are living in "modern slavery" in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands,

Murky Waters, A qualitative assessment of modern slavery in the Pacific region says exploitation was fuelled by widespread poverty, migration, and the abuse of cultural practice.

The report identified several forms of slavery including human trafficking, forced labour, sexual exploitation, and forced marriage in all eight countries studied: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

Murky Waters draws on existing peer-reviewed and grey literature, Walk Free's 2019 assessment of action taken by governments to address slavery.

It also makes use of information gathered through semi-structured interviews with anti-slavery stakeholders in eight countries in the region.

"We have heard reports of signs of modern slavery among migrant workers in the construction industry, stemming from increasing foreign investment in Pacific Island communities," senior researcher Elise Gordon told Stuff in an interview.

"Also fishing, a major industry in the region, brings with it a poor track record as being notorious for forced labour and human trafficking for labour exploitation."

Modern slavery was likely to increase as climate change exacerbated poverty and migration, Gordon said.

Source

• rnz.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• respect.international
• minderoo.org
• vogue.com.au
• Image: rnz.co.nz

Economist, Barbara Ward once suggested that we still have slaves, but these days we don't see them because they are on the other side of the world.

In a thought-provoking column Newsroom, Nikki Mandow wonders if perhaps the cheap tins of tomatoes in New Zealand's supermarkets are the result of slave labour.

She notes that Countdown has 32 different tinned tomato products on its (online) shelf.

Prices range from 70 cents to $2.55.

"Only 11 are locally-sourced - good ol' Watties' Hawkes Bay tomatoes, plain and flavoured. Maybe roast garlic and onion for spag bol?

Every other canned tomato - 21 different sorts - is Italian."

"Can you really bring a tin of tomatoes halfway around the world and sell it at a third of the price of a locally-sourced brand, and be sure no unsavoury human resources practices happened along the line?" Mandow asks.

In June, the Guardian published an article by Tobias Jones and Ayo Awokoya with the subtitle "How the Italian mafia makes millions by exploiting migrants."

In the Italian south, the lives of foreign agricultural labourers are so cheap that many NGOs have described their conditions as a modern form of slavery.

A few have work contracts, although union organisers often find they are fake.

Desperate for work, these labourers will accept any job in the fields even if the wages are far below, and the hours far above, union standards.

Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries.

She was an early advocate of sustainable development before this term became familiar and was well known as a journalist, lecturer and broadcaster.

She died in 1981.

Source

• newsroom.co.nz
• theguardian.com
• en.wikipedia.org
• Image: theguardian.com

Lungs, kidneys, livers, hearts and corneas are reportedly among the most sought-after organs. They are sold on the black market around the world for thousands-of-pounds.

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) data shows there were six referrals to its National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2018. This scheme is designed to support victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

The number of referrals is increasing with 18 suspected child and adult victims flagged to the NCA by police, local authorities or charities between 2012 and 2018.

Experts say the true number is likely to be far higher. Where modern slavery is a "hidden" crime, experts say organ harvesting is particularly traumatic. Its victims are likely to be vulnerable, poor and unable to speak out.

Over the past six months, an Independent Tribunal Into Forced Organ Harvesting of Prisoners of Conscience in China, known as the China Tribunal, has been hearing evidence in the UK from medical experts, human rights investigators and alleged victims.

The Tribunal, spearheaded by Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, published a damning report this week, saying the British government 'ignored' Chinese organ harvesting.

For more than a decade, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been accused of "acts of cruelty and wickedness" that match those of "medieval torturers and executioners".

Victims have allegedly had their bodies cut open - some while still alive - for their kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, cornea and skin to be removed and turned into commodities for sale.

The tribunal says China is a "criminal state" which, "beyond reasonable doubt" has committed crimes against humanity, acts of torture, and that enemies of the state continue to be medically tested and killed for their organs.

Source

• The Telegraph
• Interesting Engineering
• The Telegraph
• Image: Health Europa

This week the Australian Senate committee will hear evidence from industry and human rights bodies about the government's draft Modern Slavery Bill.

Despite media reports on the issue over the past year, the draft bill does not address a loophole that allows alleged criminal exploitation to continue within Canberra embassies, the Salvation Army says.

The Salvation Army's submission tells the Senate that over the past 11 years it had helped almost a dozen domestic workers kept in slave-like conditions by foreign diplomats in their Canberra homes.

In one case, a woman was told she would be paid A$2150 (NZ$2359) per month for 40 hours per week as a live-in housekeeper. Instead, she was kept as a virtual prisoner, forced to sign false documents and work seven days a week for minimal pay.

The Salvation Army submission, compiled last year for an earlier inquiry that led to the current bill, says workers had their identity documents confiscated and were subject to physical and sexual abuse, threats and intimidation.

At least four cases involved the relevant embassy's head of mission. This is the highest-ranking diplomatic post, with titles like ambassador, high commissioner, charge d'affaires and consul-general.

The Salvation Army said the Australian government was not doing enough to stop diplomats from criminally exploiting workers, who were kept in "degrading and humiliating conditions, including deprivation of food, privacy and appropriate living conditions."

Heather Moore, national policy and advocacy co-ordinator at the Salvation Army's Freedom Partnership, said human trafficking should be grounds for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to take decisive action against a diplomat.

"Human trafficking is a serious crime, and the government should be treating it with the appropriate severity," she said.

The Salvation Army submission argued that diplomatic immunity was "not iron-clad,"and notes the government could request the diplomat's home country to waive immunity (thus allowing them to be prosecuted under Australian law) or declare them persona non grata - meaning the diplomat "is no longer welcome in Australia."

Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Alex Hawke said the Australian government had taken steps to address the exploitation of foreign domestic workers, distributing information leaflets and implementing a pre-departure interview for those planning to come to Australia.

He also said foreign domestic workers who were unfairly treated could access the Government's Support for Trafficked People Program, which enabled victims to remain lawfully in Australia and access support while their claims were being evaluated.

Source

• Stuff
• Sydney Morning Herald
• Image: Pro Bono Australia

Unembarrassed and unrepentant, the smuggler was still touting for business among the crowds flooding into Agadez, an oasis town on the fringe of the Sahara desert in central Niger that has for centuries been a trading centre and gateway to shifting paths across the desert.

"I told him ‘my friend died in Libya because of you'," Yusuf said a few days after the meeting.

Then, desperately hungry, he asked him for some food.

The man shrugged off both appeals, and walked away, saying only: "I am sorry, but God will help you."

Yusuf, a 24-year-old Nigerian, was one of thousands of people who had travelled to Libya looking for work, or hoping to sail to Europe, who were instead sucked into a grim and violent world of slave markets, private prisons, and brutal forced brothels.

The dangers of attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, in overcrowded, unseaworthy vessels, have been highlighted by a series of desperate rescue missions and thousands of deaths at sea in recent years.

Last week, at least 245 people were killed by shipwrecks, bringing the toll for this year alone to 1,300.

Less well-known are the dangers of Libya itself for migrants fleeing poverty across West Africa.

The country's slide into chaos following the 2011 death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi and the collapse of the government have made it a breeding ground for crime and exploitation.

Two rival governments, an Isis franchise and countless local militias competing for control of a vast, sparsely populated territory awash in weapons, have allowed traffickers to flourish, checked only by the activities of their criminal rivals.

Last year, more than 180,000 refugees arrived in Italy, the vast majority of them through Libya, according to UN agency the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

That number is forecast to top 200,000 this year - and these people form a lucrative source of income for militias and mafias who control Libya's roads and trafficking networks. Continue reading

Sources

• The Guardian article by Emma Graham-Harrison
• Image: The Nation

Police chiefs and Church representatives from across the world gathered in London alongside Home Office ministers for a Conference aimed at developing strategies to combat human trafficking.

Cardinal John said he felt both privileged to attend and horrified at what he heard.

New Zealand is destination country for human trafficking.

Estimates of human trafficking in New Zealand are modest, with some reports of debt bondage and confiscation of documents among women in prostitution.

Cardinal John is calling on Catholics in New Zealand to inform themselves about Human Trafficking and to take action.

Cardinal John asks if you know that:

• The average age of a victim is 12 years old
• That every 30 seconds someone is trafficked
• Females make up 75% of all victims
• Only 1 to 2% of victims are ever rescued
• Sex trafficking generates $150 billion US dollars annually
• The Global slavery Index estimates that there are 600 slaves in New Zealand

He makes the following suggestions about what can be done to to become aware of, help others to become aware and do something to combat this evil:

• Do a web search on the words human trafficking and start reading about it.
• Read Pope Francis' Message for the World Day of Peace published for 1 January this year "No Longer Slaves, but Brothers and Sisters" (Vatican website).
• Speak to your Members of Parliament and ask them to become informed and involved.
• Look for indications where people seem never to go out socially, or employers do not allow them to have a holiday.
• Look at farms, vineyards, orchards, the fishing industry, restaurants -look for signs of people being exploited.
• Find out about the Seasonal Workers Legislation at www.dol.govt.nz.
• Become suspicious if you hear of people whose passports or identity documents are kept from them.
• Ask questions if working conditions do not allow for reasonable breaks and rests.
• Pray with Pope Francis: "May we have the courage to touch the suffering flesh of Christ, revealed in the faces of those countless efforts to free victims and stop this crime that's become ever more aggressive, that threatens not just individuals, but the foundational values of society, international security and laws, the economy, families and communities" persons whom he calls 'the least of my brothers and sisters."

New Zealand is destination country for human trafficking.

Estimates of human trafficking in New Zealand are modest, with some reports of debt bondage and confiscation of document among women in prostitution.

The Global Slavery Index is produce by the Walk Free Foundation.

The methodology used to compile the index has been described by some as "extremely crude"

The Santa Marta Group, led by Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Cardinal Vincent Nichols is an alliance of international police chiefs and Bishops from around the world, working together with civil society to eradicate human trafficking and provide pastoral care to victims.

This was an initiative inspired by Pope Francs when he asked people to come together to try to combat the evil of modern day slavery, of human trafficking and various ways people are exploited today.

Source

• Catholic News.org.uk
• Cardinal John Dew's Newsletter
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

The Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders against Modern Slavery underlines that modern slavery is a crime against humanity.

The religious leaders' goal is to have slavery eradicated by 2020.

The declaration comes against a background of a UN report showing an increase trafficking of children.

The report shows that one in three human trafficking victims is a child, most are female and the proportion of child victims is increasing.

In some regions like Africa and the Middle East, two out of three victims are children states the UN report.

Catholic Relief Services' trafficking statistics show:

• At least 12.3 million people are trafficked worldwide.
• More than 1 million children are victims of trafficking.
• People are trafficked in 161 countries, including the United States.
• Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry worldwide.
• On average, only 1 person is convicted for every 800 trafficking cases worldwide.

"The physical, economic, sexual and psychological exploitation of men and women, boys and girls, is chaining tens of millions of persons to inhumanity and humiliation," Pope Francis said, before signing the pledge.

Calling modern slavery "an atrocious plague", the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics was the first to sign the declaration.

Labelling modern slavery as a crime against humanity, the religious leaders defined human trafficking as, "forced labor and prostitution, organ trafficking, and any relationship that fails to respect the fundamental conviction that all people are equal and have the same freedom and dignity."

"In the eyes of God each human being is a free person, whether girl or boy, woman or man, and is destined to exist for the good of all in equality and fraternity," affirmed the leaders.

The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in the Vatican, in the Casina Pio IV, in the presence of some 200 people, including cardinals, ambassadors from many countries, NGOs and activists and representatives of the world's media.

Sources

• America
• Newswire
• Reuters
• NY Times
• Image: Gerard O'Connell (Twitter)