A Vatican-sponsored workshop on modern-day slavery has compiled 50 proposals for combating human trafficking, including that it be declared a crime against humanity that is punishable by international courts.
"The idea is that it should be something along the lines of European courts that go beyond borders," said Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, organiser of last weekend's two-day session.
The Argentine-born bishop, grand chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Science and Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, told journalists on Monday that Pope Francis "will do something important" with the working group's suggestions. His two academies and the Vatican-based International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations sponsored the weekend workshop.
Some 80 people with expertise in the ecclesial, medical and juridical fields took part in the gathering, which Bishop Sánchez said was only the first of three such sessions. There will be another next year and an even larger meeting in 2015.
Bishop Sánchez said Pope Francis had specifically asked him to have the pontifical academies hold workshops on the new forms of slavery, including human and organ trafficking. Some government estimates say up to 21 million people are victims of forced labour and sexual exploitation.
Two campaigners working in Parliament to end trafficking write about their efforts and the work being done in the Vatican in this week's edition of The Tablet
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