VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Service – Bollettino
Vatican City, 2 June 2016 – Following Pope Francis’ encouragement to combat in every way the different forms of modern slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, the trade in organs and organised crime, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has invited a large number of judges, prosecutors and magistrates from many different countries – key actors in the struggle against these terrible crimes – to a high level meeting.
The new Summit is the latest in a series of important meetings organised by the same Academy with the same purpose, most notably in 2014, with the leaders of the main religions that exercise influence in the globalised world (http://www.endslavery.va/content/endslavery/en/events/declaration.html) and in 2015, with mayors of the principal capitals and large metropolises of many countries (http://www.endslavery.va/content/endslavery/en/events/mayors.html), now convening the principal judges, prosecutors and magistrates of all countries.
Pope Francis has confirmed his presence in the evening of the first day, 3 June.
The many other attendees include an important delegation from the United States, led by the Ambassador responsible for the Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Susan Coppedge; the British High Commissioner against modern slavery, Kevin Hyland, along with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Alison Saunders; the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings, Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen; the United Nations High Commissioner against Human Trafficking, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro; the Swedish Chancellor of Justice Anna Skarhead and author of the Swedish model of combating prostitution based on the criminalisation of clients).
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.