Ensuring no one is left behind; Eliminating the Trafficking of Children and Youth

    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.