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Modern slavery and human trafficking to be examined at symposium
by Joseph Earnest August 23, 2013
Newscast Media ROME—Following a wish expressed by Pope Francis, the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and of the Social Sciences, together with FIAMC (World Federation of the Catholic Medical Associations) are organizing a preparatory workshop on 2-3 November 2013 in the Casina Pio IV (or Villa Pia) in Vatican City, to examine human trafficking and modern slavery, in order to establish the real status quo and an agenda to combat this heinous crime.
For example, natural sciences today can provide new tools that can be used against this new form of slavery, such as a digital registry to compare the DNA of unidentified missing children (including cases of illegal adoption) with that of their family members who have reported their disappearance.
"No
one can deny that the trade in human persons constitutes a shocking
offense against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human
rights and is an accelerator of criminal wealth creation in this new
century," the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and of the Social Sciences, Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo
said.
"The Second Vatican Council already stated that slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, and disgraceful working conditions where people are treated as instruments of gain, constitute a supreme dishonor to the Creator," he added.
The Vatican also said that each year, it is estimated that about 2 million people are victims of sexual trafficking, 60% of which are girls. Human organ trafficking reaches almost 1% of that figure, thus affecting around 20,000 people who are forced or deceived into giving up an organ (liver, kidney, pancreas, cornea, lung, even the heart), not without the complicity of doctors, nurses and other medical staff, who have pledged to follow Hippocrates’ oath Primum non nocere instead. But these chilling figures "represent only the tip of the iceberg, as criminals generally go to great lengths to prevent the detection of their activities".
Some observers speculate that, within ten years, human trafficking will surpass drugs and weapons trafficking to become the most profitable criminal activity in the world.
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