On July 13 a High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development was held for the first time since heads of
states gathered last year at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
UN High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development |
World leaders
pledged to implement 17 goals including: no poverty (1), quality education (4),
gender equality (5), reduced inequalities (10), climate action (13), peace,
justice and strong institutions (16), etc.
These goals
speak directly to issues affecting both people and planet, which is very much
in line with Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato
Si'. When Pope Francis delivered his message to the UN last year during his
U.S. visit, he
called on world leaders to address climate change if the global community is to
make progress against poverty, hunger, war and inequality.
The event I
attended at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) was a side event on human
trafficking hosted by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the
United Nations titled, Eliminating the
Trafficking of Children and Youth. Event participants discussed the best approach
for combating the growing scourge of children and youth who are trafficked for
sex or work. Archbishop Bernardito Auza was the moderator. He said the Catholic
Church has long fought against human trafficking in its teachings and in its
work on the ground. For example, ‘The Second Vatican Council, St. John Paul II,
and Pope Benedict XVI all spoke out passionately and forcefully against the
infamy of human trafficking and the widespread hedonistic and commercial
culture that encourages this systematic exploitation of human dignity and
rights,” Archbishop Auza said. He then added that “Pope Francis has taken the
Church’s action and advocacy “to another level,” denouncing it in his
encyclicals and exhortations, in speeches and peace letters, and promoting it
in numerous conferences in the Vatican and beyond.”
Holy See Human Trafficking side event |
Guest speakers
from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and various grassroots groups
discussed the many forms human trafficking takes, including sexual
exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal of
organs. Actual survivors of human trafficking also gave compelling testimonies
of being subjected to abuse and trafficking, sometimes at the hand of family
members. A 2015 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons released by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shows that one in three known victims of
human trafficking are children, with women and girls accounting for 70 percent
of all trafficking victims worldwide.
I appreciated being part of this informative
gathering and I am pleased to know that Catholic-based organizations are at the
forefront of raising awareness on this human dignity issue and addressing it from
the local all the way up to the international level. In addition, Pope Francis'
message to the global community strongly resonates with this event, that we
"leave no one behind".
Sr. Nathanael Lee, LSHF, is from South Korea
and a member of the Little Servants of the Holy Family congregation. She
is interning at JPIC's office in Washington, DC. until 2017.