Nichols speaks out on trafficking

Human trafficking and slavery “radically strip” a person of their dignity, “reducing them to a … commodity,” Cardinal Vincent Nichols said in a special address to the Lithuanian Parliament in Vilnius, writes Lorna Donlon.

He was speaking in his role as president of the Santa Marta Group, which combats human trafficking. The cardinal, who was accompanied by the UK’s first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Kevin Hyland, called on Lithuania’s politicians to support the struggle.

He said that the work of the Santa Marta Group in the UK depended on the Church and the legal authorities working together. The number of potential victims of slavery referred to the UK authorities in 2016 was 3805, a 17 per cent increase on 2015.