Faiths join hands against slavery

Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and leaders from other major religions have pledged to use their faiths to eradicate modern slavery by 2020.

Francis joined 13 senior faith figures including Archbishop Welby, Patriarch Bartholomew, two rabbis, an imam and an ayatollah, as well as Buddhist and Hindu leaders in signing a declaration to do “all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond” to bring an end to the suffering of those enslaved.

The signatories said human trafficking, forced labour and prostitution, and organ trafficking are “crimes against humanity”.

Pope Francis said: “The physical, economic, sexual and psychological exploitation of men and women, boys and girls, is chaining tens of millions of persons to inhumanity and humiliation.”