Vatican calls for world anti-trafficking agency
(Vatican Radio) The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) says it’s outrageous that there is no shared EU responsibility for the refugees trying to reach Italy. The Academy also said there is an urgent need to set up a world anti-trafficking agency. The comments came at a press conference held in the Vatican by leading members of PASS at the end of their 5-day plenary meeting whose theme was “Human Trafficking: Issues Beyond Criminalization.
Human trafficking is a huge global phenomenon that is worth a staggering 150 billion dollars and experts say the age of the trafficked victims is getting younger and younger. The President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences is Margaret Archer who told journalists that the PASS members discussed how to prevent the crime of human trafficking, by tackling the twin issues of supply and demand for sex workers and forced labour. She spoke to Susy Hodges.
Listen to the interview with Professor Margaret Archer, President of PASS:
Asked about what steps need to be taken to reduce demand for prostitutes and forced labourers, Archer said there’s a need to embark on a process in which the clients of brothels and the companies using forced labour become socially stigmatized by harnessing the power of the social media such as Facebook to spread messages against these practices, especially among the young and students in schools. She compared it to the successful actions which have been taken against smokers and especially the ban on smoking in public places over the past decades which have led to a sweeping change in behaviour.
“We can send out messages that using prostitutes isn’t cool and…. that “it messes up your cool image.”