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Santa Marta Group meets to counteract human trafficking

(Vatican Radio) Police chiefs, Bishops, Religious sisters and representatives from civil society, who make up the Santa Marta Group, are joining together this week, 26-27 October, in the Vatican to share and encourage best practice in the struggle against human trafficking.Among those taking part in the conference is Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, South Africa. He spoke with Christopher Wells about the meeting.“What the conference tries to do is to bring together bishops and heads of the Church together with chiefs of police from various countries,” he said.And so we often have chiefs of police from South America, from Canada, North America, various European countries and some African countries as well, and Asian countries, and sometimes the presidents of the different episcopal conferences, or some bishops who are particularly concerned about the issue. And the idea of course is that together with the police we believe that the church has a very important ro...

(Vatican Radio) Police chiefs, Bishops, Religious sisters and representatives from civil society, who make up the Santa Marta Group, are joining together this week, 26-27 October, in the Vatican to share and encourage best practice in the struggle against human trafficking.

Among those taking part in the conference is Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town, South Africa. He spoke with Christopher Wells about the meeting.

“What the conference tries to do is to bring together bishops and heads of the Church together with chiefs of police from various countries,” he said.

And so we often have chiefs of police from South America, from Canada, North America, various European countries and some African countries as well, and Asian countries, and sometimes the presidents of the different episcopal conferences, or some bishops who are particularly concerned about the issue. And the idea of course is that together with the police we believe that the church has a very important role to play in counteracting human trafficking.

Archbishop Brislin said human trafficking is “an enormous” problem throughout the world, even if, on account of the secrecy and deception of traffickers, “it’s very difficult to assess” the full extent of the problem. He described human trafficking as “a new form of slave labour.”

Describing the efforts of the Santa Marta Group to counteract human trafficking, Archbishop Brislin pointed to the example of the cooperation between the Church and police in the United Kingdom, noting especially the role of women religious in assisting victims of human trafficking.

Archbishop Brislin also spoke of the Church’s role in raising awareness about human trafficking. “Another very important role for the Church is in terms of awareness,” he said, “because the whole of human trafficking really revolves around deception, deceiving people into believing that there are wonderful job opportunities in other places of the world.” He said it’s important to warn vulnerable persons, especially young people, of the threat of trafficking. “If there is any job offer that seems to be too good to be true, it is too good to be true. So beware.”

Listen to the full interview of Archbishop Stephen Brislin with Christopher Wells:

At this year’s conference, Santa Marta Group delegates will report back to Pope Francis the progress that has been made since signing the SMG commitment two years ago, where each of the 24 police chiefs present committed to developing partnerships with the Church and civil society to bring to justice those who are responsible for the horrendous crime of trafficking and to alleviate the suffering of the victims.

This year’s SMG conference will include a call for every Bishops’ Conference to ensure there is a named Bishop in their Conference to meet and engage with law enforcement officials; a call to accompany all victims of trafficking through the law enforcement process; a call for the Church to engage with vulnerable communities and to provide a safe space for people to report suspected trafficking and for victims to come forward; a challenge to exploitative industries – not just the sex trade, but mainstream goods and services; and guidance on the indicators of trafficking so people can more easily identify when exploitation is occurring.

Delegates will also have an audience with Pope Francis on 27 October.

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