I give my wholehearted support to this campaign to eradicate the trafficking of human beings. I deplore this criminal trade which treats vulnerable people as commodities – to be traded globally and to be exploited and abused for the profit and pleasure of the more powerful.
Human trafficking is fundamentally a gender issue: the overwhelming majority of the millions of people who are trafficked every year are women and young girls. All women have a duty to act in solidarity with the mothers, daughters and sisters of those victims who have been traded in this degrading manner. Trafficking undermines the well-being of men as well: it deprives its victims and their loved ones of the right to a family life, in a context of safety and security.
It is essential to tackle the underlying causes of trafficking, which flourishes in contexts of extreme poverty and social and economic injustice. Recently, trafficking has increased in contexts of persistent conflict, civil wars, foreign occupation and terrorism in which the value of human life itself is debased. To reverse this situation requires that the institutions that govern our behavior globally, regionally and nationally take action to promote a culture of non-violence and peace.
Each one of the millions of women and children who are trafficked cries out against the injustice they have suffered. I trust that this worthy initiative will ensure that their desperate voices are heard and that action is taken to eradicate this unacceptable abuse of human rights.