By FRANCES D'EMILIO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 14, 2006
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Human trafficking, including women forced
to become prostitutes or minors forced to do child labor, is
worse now than the trade in African slaves of past centuries, a
top Vatican official said Tuesday.
"It's worse than the slavery of those whose slaves who
were taken from Africa and brought to other countries,"
said Cardinal Renato Martino, former longtime Vatican envoy to
the United Nations and current head of the Holy See's office
concerned with migrant and itinerant peoples.
At a news conference to present Pope Benedict XVI's annual
message dealing with the problems of migrants, the cardinal
singled out modern-day forms of slavery - minors who are sold to
do child labor or who are forced to be soldiers, as well as
women forced to prostitute themselves - and challenged countries
to combat these problems.
"In a world which proclaims human rights left and right,
let's see what it does about the rights of so many human beings
which are not respected, but trampled," the cardinal said.
The Vatican launched an appeal for Iraqi Christian refugees
during the news conference.
"I cannot forget, because of the current situation, the
need for urgent measures on behalf of Iraqi Christians and other
religious minorities in Iraq," said Martino's assistant on
refugee and migrant issues, Monsignor Agostino Marchetto.
In the papal message, Benedict noted that more women were
leaving their homelands in search of a better life.
"However, women who end up as victims of trafficking of
human beings and of prostitution are not few," the pope
said.
In the last decade or so, many women in Eastern Europe have
traveled to the West after being promised what appeared to be
honest jobs, but upon arrival in the countries were forced to
work as prostitute to pay off the cost of their trip.
Benedict also expressed concern over families in refugee
camps.
In the camps, "there is also the risk of women and
children being involved in sexual exploitation, as a survival
mechanism," the pope wrote.
Senior U.N. officials said earlier this year that allegations
of sexual abuse against U.N. peacekeepers remain unacceptably
high and a ban on using prostitutes is meeting opposition from
some troops and staff. An investigation had found that
peacekeepers in Congo had sex with Congolese women and girls,
usually in exchange for food or small sums of money. Cases of
sexual abuse have also been reported in other peacekeeping
missions from Bosnia and Kosovo to Cambodia, East Timor and West
Africa.
