Slavery not confined to poor nations, Vatican envoy tells UN

September 12, 2014

Slavery today is not a problem confined to the world’s impoverished countries, the Vatican’s representative reminded a session of the UN’s human-rights council.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See’s permanent observer at UN offices in Geneva, acknowledged that most public comments on human trafficking refer to incidents such as the “massive kidnapping and sale of young girls” by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria, or the 250,000 children who are forced into military service and/or used as “human shields” in warfare. But there are “other, subtler forms of slavery” as well, he said.

The archbishop pointed to forced labor by children, forced marriage, and “caste-based forms of slavery” as examples. He also cites the lack of education, inadequate access to work, and black-market enterprises as factors that can lead to effective slavery.

“We need to break the silence about this 'open wound on the body of contemporary society,” Archbishop Tomasi told the UN panel.

 

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Further information:

• Archbishop Tomasi: human trafficking is not confined to poor and developing countries (VIS)