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(Vatican Radio) The exploitation and enslavement of children is the focus of a week of activities leading up to the February 8th world day of prayer for an end to human trafficking.

Three years ago, Pope Francis asked women and men religious to organize a day, on the feast of the Sudanese saint Josephine Bakhita, to raise awareness of the plight of millions of victims of human trafficking.

At a press conference on Wednesday sisters from the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) held a press conference to announce initiatives taking place in countries around the world, focused this year on the theme of children in slavery.

Here in Rome, activities include a seminar at the Gregorian University, a film evening, a prayer vigil at the Rome parish of Ognissanti on the Via Appia and participation in the Pope’s general audience.

To find out more about the focus for this year’s event, Philippa Hitchen spoke to the president of the UISG, Sr Carmen Sammut…..

Listen: 

Sr Carmen recalls that the sisters asked the pope for a world day against slavery on the Church’s calendar and he entrusted them with the duty to organize a commemoration of trafficking victims.

She notes that ‘Talitha Kum’, the international network of religious against human trafficking, is present in around 80 countries where members mark the day of prayer as an important annual event.  

Speaking of this year’s focus on trafficked children, Sr Carmen says it’s “the most horrible of things to think that a child is not given the possibility to be a child” but is taken instead into slavery for forced labour, sexual abuse or organ harvesting. She describes it as “really heartbreaking” but adds that the phenomenon is growing, due in part to growing poverty.

She recounts her experience of Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle telling her, tearfully, that he sees families and parents selling their children out of poverty. Also she notes that because of increasing numbers of migrants, there are also more unaccompanied children.

Talking about solutions, Sr Carmen says the media must create greater awareness that this is a problem happening in every single country, though very often we choose to ignore it. Secondly, she says, if demand for the products made from slave labour is removed, there’s a possibility of less demand for trafficked children.

Sr Carmen quotes Pope Francis’ words that “purchasing is not only an economic but also a moral action”, adding that we need to realise that we can make a difference by not buying certain products. The same with sexual exploitation, she says, if there’s “not so much demand for sexual services, especially from children”. 

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