Catholic World News News Feature

Irish bishops condemn human trafficking June 19, 2006

The Catholic bishops of Ireland have issued a statement condemning human trafficking as "a gross violation of human rights."

While conceding that accurate statistics are impossible to find, the Irish bishops' statement said that human trafficking ranks only behind the firearms and drug trade as an international crime. "Conservative estimates suggest that 2.4 million people are trafficked across international borders each year," the bishops says.

Describing human trafficking as involving "various forms of coercion or deception," the bishops say that the common element in the crime is that "human life is reduced to a commodity." Victims are routinely kept in appalling conditions, they say, and stripped of their human rights and dignity.

The Irish bishops urge their government to ratify international conventions against human trafficking, extend protection to victims, and cooperate in efforts to abolish "this modern form of slavery."