Human trafficking a ‘crime against humanity'

Pope Francis has called the trafficking of human beings and their body parts a “crime against humanity” and has called for better laws and international coordination to put an end to the scandalous practice, writes Robert Mickens.

Human trafficking “constitutes a grave violation of the human rights of the victims and an offence to their dignity, as well as being a defeat for the world community,” the Pope told 17 new ambassadors presenting their ­credentials to the Holy See on 12 December.

The International Criminal Court listed human trafficking among crimes against humanity in its 2002 Rome Statute, but in the narrow context of “a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population”, such as in wartime. But a Vatican workshop in November called for all trafficking to be prosecuted as a crime against humanity.

Francis called the practice a “real form of slavery”. “We’re talking about millions of victims of forced labour, slave labour, those traded for manual labour and sexual exploitation,” he said. “Those of goodwill cannot allow these women, men and children to be treated like objects, to be lied to, violated, often sold many times and then killed or, in any case, ruined physically and mentally, than discarded and abandoned,” the Pope said. “It is a disgrace